


Summer Nights

by FlyingMonkey



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - High School, Awkward Encounters, Dean Ambrose/Alicia Fox, I clearly have no idea how to tag, Implied Nikki Bella/John Cena, M/M, Masturbation, One-Sided Neth Bellins, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Ambreigns mentioned, Slow Build, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Summer break, Swimming Pools, rolleigns - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-04-08 07:07:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 45,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4295331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingMonkey/pseuds/FlyingMonkey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seth's been in love with Nikki pretty much since he started High School, but he's never done anything about it opting for becoming friends instead. When summer break starts, and Nikki breaks up with her boyfriend Seth's determined to act on his feelings, but things don't go quite as he was hoping they  would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The start of Summer Break

**Author's Note:**

> So I had this idea in my mind and decide to give it a go. I don't see a lot of Rolleings as of lately so I needed to fix that lol. Also, this is my first work for this fandom, and it's unbeate'd so any mistakes please point them out. Any comments would also be good, anyway I hope you enjoy this silly little fic :)  
> P.S Everyone is just out of high school (like 18 yo) except for Roman (23) and The Usos (21). And I will include some OC's  
> P.P.S Also I will be adding tags as I go along. And the rating might change too, who knows? Not me lol

Dean paced back and forth in front of the bathroom door, Seth was inside and he was taking too damn long to come out. They were supposed to meet their friends at the water park ten minutes ago. Dean didn't understand Seth's delay, they were going to the pool, so he didn't need to dress fancy or anything. Finally, he heard the door opened and turned around, only to start doubling over with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Seth asked with his chin up, and his shoulders squared. That _defiance_ only made Dean laugh harder and Seth furrowed his brows still look at Dean.

"Dude," Dean said. "We are going to the pool you know? Not a fancy ass restaurant, what's with the outfit?"

Said outfit consisted of tight jeans, a button up blue shirt, and black dress shoes. Seth's blond and brunette hair was made into a neat bun at the nape of his neck, and he was wearing his cologne too.

"And what's with the cologne? I can smell it from here" he continued wrinkling his nose.

"It's not like you're that far from me" Seth countered a little defensive. "Besides what's wrong with wanting to look good?" He asked already making his way to the door, looking for his car keys.

"There's nothing wrong with it, it's just that we are going to the pool. Dressing all fancy is a little over the top don't you think?" Dean answered following Seth to the car.

Seth understood that, and he was feeling a little self-conscious about his wardrobe choice now. Dean was right, he didn't need to be dressed up, but Dean didn't understand that he was a man on a mission. For the past four years of his life, Seth had been crushing on his friend Nikki. Nikki was beautiful, funny, smart, and Seth was _in love,_ even before talking to her for the first time. The very first time they talked didn't go quite as bad as he thought it would, even though he had been a nervous wreck. But he never mustered the courage to actually ask her out on a date, and as time passed by she started dating John, a guy from the wrestling team at school, and Seth had to get used to being friends with her instead. It had been hard, but with time he learned to be Nikki's friend and nothing more, that is until a week ago, before graduation when Nikki told Seth that she and John had broken up and that she was more than ok with it. Nikki's confession sparked a hope on Seth, but still he hadn't said anything about his feeling to her. Everything was going to change soon, he was determined to ask her out today. His friends decided that, since none of them were going to go out of town for Summer Break, they were going to spend the Summer together before some of them had to move to go to college. And today was their first hang out, they decided to go to the water park and relax before making any other plans, and Seth thought that it would be the perfect setting to _finally_ tell Nikki how he felt.

"Maybe you're right," he told Dean as they got into the car "I should change"

"No way, we're already late," Dean said almost shoving his phone in Seth's face "Just don't get in the water in that please" He added with a laugh putting on his seatbelt

"Of course I'm not going into the water in these." He said motioning to his clothes "I have a change of clothes in the trunk" with that he put on his seatbelt and started the car.

The ride to the water park was almost silent, with Dean occasionally singing along to the radio, or making small talk of who was going to show up, or who would be there already. Seth was almost sure they were going to be the last ones there, but he didn't tell Dean, he knew Dean didn't like being late, ever; he said that he would 'missed out on the action' or something.

When they finally got there Seth started to look over for their friends, his eyes landing on Nikki who was laying on a chair below the shade. She was wearing a bikini top and denim shorts, her long hair up in a ponytail, and she had her eyes closed. She was also alone, and Seth wondered if they were really that late because it seemed that no one had arrived yet. However, as they made their way to her Seth noticed his friends' belongings on other chairs. Nikki sat up when she heard them, opening her eyes and smiling widely as she noticed it was them. She then looked at Seth a little more closely, and Seth didn't know if she was going to start laughing at him then and there. She didn't laugh though it was obvious she wanted to, instead she said:

"What's with the fancy pants?" Seth gave Dean a side-glance, almost warning him to not laugh. Dean did his best not to.

"Just... you know.. Wanted to look good?" He offered, Nikki looked him up and down, smiling again.

"You do look nice." She said and sat down on the chair, closing her eyes again.

"Where's everyone?" Asked Dean, tugging on his t-shirt and throwing it on a nearby chair.

"Brie and Daniel are in line on one of the water slides," Nikki started without opening her eyes "Randy, Cody, and Ted are somewhere in the 'lazy river' or whatever it's called, and no one else has showed up" She finished.

"I told you we weren't the last ones to get here." Seth said.

"I'm going to go hit the water slides too." He said walking off, leaving Seth and Nikki alone. Seth started to get a little nervous, he had practiced a whole speech and everything on what he was going to say to Nikki, but standing there next to her, he suddenly didn't even know how to begin. He passed a hand through his hair sighing deeply. This was it, he thought, this is the moment when I confess and hope for the best.

"Aren't you going to change?" Nikki asked him, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"What?" He said looking down to his clothes "Oh! Right, right. I am" he continued, grabbing his backpack and walking to the bathroom.

This is good, he thought he could get a breather to put his thoughts together, and remember the things he was going to say. He sighed again, trying to come up with the best way to say what he needed to say. He could feel himself getting nervous and a little sweaty, but he could blame the sweat on the heat. Once he entered the bathroom he took off his shoes and socks and pull out some sandals. He was eager to get out of the bathroom and just get this over with, so he hurried to one of the changing rooms there. He was so immersed in changing that he didn't notice the puddle of water on the floor, he almost fell to the ground, almost because from behind he could feel a pair of strong arms holding him up, preventing his fall. He was a little startled and as he try to stand up right a voice asked:

"Are you ok man?" The voice was low, and judging from the proximity Seth knew it was from the guy that had helped him just now. Seth turned around and his breath caught in his throat, as he saw the guy. He didn't know if the sound he made next was a gasp or what, and as the guy eyed him more closely, for what seemed like a long time Seth didn't even know what the guy had ask. Recollecting his thoughts and straighting up he said a weak 'yeah' the other guy nodded and turned to walk out, only to turn around again and say "Just be careful were you walk" and gave Seth the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

He stared at the door, dumbfounded. He didn't know what that was, he thought that he had been startled because he nearly fell and not because of the guy that had helped him. With that thought he turned back around, making sure to see where he was stepping and grabbing the wall as to not slip again, and entered one of the changing rooms.


	2. Complications and confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day went by quickly without any further incidents, and Seth was glad that the time for going back home was near. He was also getting a little frustrated because between being out with his friends and his little incident in the bathroom, his whole plan had gone awry. Seth had to mentally scold himself for ever thinking that a place like a water park was a good place to confess to someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excessive use of "that guy" and "the guy" lol

As Seth started to change into his swimming trunks he tried on focusing on what he was going to say to Nikki, but he soon found his attempts were in vain as all he could think about was that guy who saved him from falling. Seth was confused to say the least. Why? because he had never looked at anyone else the way he had looked at that guy, not even Nikki. And he had certainly never stutter or lost his voice around anyone, ever. Maybe he wasn't the most popular guy in school, but he wasn't shy either; the fact that he had never asked Nikki out on a date was a completely different issue. Because while he could talk to her and all, taking that step was a bit scary, especially if it turned out that she didn't share the same feelings. He could handle being Nikki’s friend, and even the first time they talked he hadn’t said or done anything embarrassing, like staying completely speechless. Maybe it was that guy’s effect on people; Seth was sure he was the type of guy that attracted anyone and everyone to him, like some kind of big magnet or something. That guy had the whole ‘tall dark and handsome’ thing going for him, and if you added to that being polite, and gentleman enough to help out a complete stranger, then yeah Seth was sure that guy was everyone’s type. As he thought that over, Seth wondered if that guy was his type, and that left him more confused that he had been before. Seth had never, ever liked anyone else aside from Nikki; no other girls (let alone guys) had made him want to kiss them or anything like that, so he didn’t know if he was just perplexed by the looks of this guy or if he maybe was a little bit attracted to him. That he could say out loud that another guy was hot didn’t make him attracted to them, or gay, Seth thought as he tried and failed yet again to remember his speech. He was taking too long in the bathroom too, and he didn’t want to stay there the whole time pondering about some guy who he might never see again. So he took his bag and walked outside the bathroom.

He was already halfway to the spot where Nikki had been when he stopped and noticed most of his friends were in the pool that was closest to where he was standing. Nikki was passing a ball between her sister Brie, and Brie’s boyfriend Daniel. Dean was nowhere to be seen, so Seth thought he was still at the water slides, Dean _loved_ water slides. Seth also noticed that his other friends: Randy, Ted, and Cody, were sitting by the edge of the pool with their legs in the water. He made his way to the pool when he saw him again. _That guy_ from the bathroom. He was standing on a bridge that was in the middle of the pool, it went from one side of the pool to the other. The guy was standing in the middle of two other guys. Seth stopped at the edge of the pool, before getting in watching as they talked and laughed and if Seth thought the guy had a beautiful smile his laughter was something else, almost contagious and Seth had to stop himself from smiling at literally nothing. Because how was he going to answer if his friends saw him smiling ‘oh it’s just that guy over there with his contagious laughter’. And then when he was almost there besides Nikki, the guy’s eyes turned and spotted him. He was caught staring, and all he could do was to keep on staring, allegedly he could submerge under the water, but it was like he was in a trance. Deer in the headlights or whatever, and to add to his humiliation he could feel the heat rising to his face in a blush that he was sure would turn the whole pool red when the guy smiled at him for the second time that day. He tried to return the smile but couldn’t even move, and then the guy waved and Seth did something with his hand that resembled more of a movement to swat flies away than waving at someone. He was rudely taken out of his trance when a ball landed on top of his head, he turned around and saw his friends laughing at him. Had they seen his whole meltdown? Or were they just messing around? Most importantly why was it so hard for him to act normal around a guy who he didn’t even know? For fucks sake, the guy wasn’t even near him anyway!

“Are you gonna stand there all day Seth?” He heard Daniel say, followed by a “Can you at least give us back the ball?

“Yeah, yeah. Alright,” he answered as he turned around looking for the ball. A boy threw it at him and he muttered a ‘thanks’ as he went to join his friends. He threw the ball back at Daniel before saying. “You know, you didn’t have to hit me with it”

“You looked like you were somewhere else man.” Randy told him and he felt the eyes of all of his friends on him.

“What was that about?” Asked Nikki and he just shrugged because really what could he say to that?

“Let’s just play.” He said as a manner of answering, and none of his friends questioned him again.

The day went by quickly without any further incidents, and Seth was glad that the time for going back home was near. He was also getting a little frustrated because between being out with his friends and his little incident in the bathroom, his whole plan had gone awry. It didn’t go any better when the rest of his friends got there. More people only meant fewer opportunities for him to be alone with Nikki. And when all of the girls were together, they stayed together the whole time. So here he was now sitting by the edge of the pool with Dolph while he watched Nikki, Brie, Lana and Alicia chatting together under the shade, on those chairs they had chosen. It also didn’t help that, as time went by, more and more people were coming into the water park. Seth had to mentally scold himself for ever thinking that a place like a water park was a good place to confess to someone.

“We need to do something fun before we go home” Seth heard Dolph say.

“Like what?” asked Dean splashing water at both Seth and Dolph from the pool. Seth splashed him back and they went like that for a little while when Randy spoke up

“We should do some swimming races or something.” He said.

“There are a lot of people in this pool man” Cody said while moving his hands as if saying ‘look around us’

“Well, there is that other pool, the big one by the edge of the park that is almost empty” replied Randy.

“Dude that one is empty because it’s like the deepest one” Said Dolph

“So? We all know how to swim don’t we?” Randy said looking around for any of his friends to deny the statement. When no one did he got up. “Come one, before they close the park” He said and started to walk towards the girls.

As Randy had predicted, the pool was almost deserted, it helped that is was almost closing time and people were already leaving. As they got closer Seth noticed the only people that were in there: Two girls, and three guys. Two of the guys Seth recognized as the guys that were standing on the bridge before, and, of course, the third guy was _that guy_. Seth almost turned around to leave, almost because he didn’t have any good excuses as to why he would leave so he kept walking, praying that he wouldn’t do something stupid again like almost fall or stay speechless or frozen in place again.

His prayers weren’t answer though, of course. Even if he didn’t freeze up again when the guy locked his eyes with him. It was going good, great even. Randy and Daniel talked to the two guys (who now that Seth look closely, looked like they were twin brothers or something) and asked them if they could clear the pool so that they could do their little swimming race; the twins were excited and even started placing bets around. Once the pool was cleared Randy, Daniel, Dolph, Cody, Ted, Dean and Seth all stood by the end of the pool. It was a long pool and deep, some sort of Olympic pool or something. The rest of his friends, as well as the twins, those two girls that were with them and that guy, all stood by the side of the pool looking at them excitedly. With their phones ready to take pictures and videos of that moment.

“Alright” Randy cleared his voice “We’re going to swim to the edge and the first one to get back wins” He looked around as if expecting any questions then he continued “The last one has to invite us all over for dinner at his house. Tonight. Are we clear?” He said again, and then one of the twins asked smiling “Are we invited too?” He moved his hand around him and his friends so that it was cleared who he meant.

“That’s up to the looser” Randy said.

Once everyone was ready to jump into the water, Nikki gave the ‘go’ signal and the race started. It was going good, for Seth anyway, he was in the front of them and he was almost sure he was going to win. Almost because before he even got to the end of the pool he felt his right leg contract and the familiar feeling of a muscle cramp hit him. He wasn’t close enough to the edge of the pool to grab on to it and he felt himself sinking a little, he was in such a shock that he didn’t notice his friends pass him by and turn around leaving him behind, he did notice however that the he was sinking more and before he went under he found his voice and screamed “Cramp!” He looked around to his friends who were already getting out of the pool, they looked back at him with wide eyes and for a moment nobody moved. That is until _that guy_ ran along the side of the pool to the end of it and jumped in. He took Seth and settle him on the edge of the pool Seth started coughing up what little water he managed to swallow and looked over the guy with wide eyes. In all of the haze he was in Seth thought that the guy look even better up close, with his long dark hair covered in water. Seth was panting, and still recovering while also looking intently at the guy in front of him, at his big brown eyes, his defined jawline, and his plump pink lips. Then he heard him say:

“You know I might have to start charging you for saving your ass” Seth smiled widely at him, and he would blame it on the fact that he had almost drowned when he lost his breath again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this going to slow for you guys? They don't even know each other names. The day isn't even over yet! lol also who do you think lost the race? Are they gonna make Seth pay even tho he almost drowned?


	3. Do I Know You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It should be said that today was Seth’s bad-luck-day; he went from almost falling, to almost drowning, and he hadn’t even got a chance to talk to Nikki at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pardon my crappy description of the house. Also, I don't know how the system works in terms of adoptions so sorry about that.

“My name is Roman by the way” The guy said and before Seth could tell him his name, Roman submerged in the water and swam to the edge to get out. Seth felt a little overwhelmed by all of his friends. They were now surrounding him, and talking at the same time. He heard Dolph say “Should we call 911?” and then Dean was by his side asking him the same thing.

“I’m fine” Seth said, his voice was a little hoarse, but otherwise he didn’t feel bad. Thankfully the cramp on his leg didn’t last too long either. He felt Dean put his arm over his shoulders and softly kiss his temple, only to then shove him to the side saying: “Well I’m glad you are ok asshole, you scared me!”

“I’ll try not to do it again” Seth said, amused. That was Dean, he was a bit overprotective sometimes, but every time he showed a little affection he would compensate by calling him names or something.

When Seth first met Dean in first grade he could see how shy Dean was. He sat at the back of the classroom and kept to himself mostly, he ate alone and his parents never attended any school related meetings. Seth started talking to Dean around the second week of school, that had been it; ever since that day Dean and Seth had become best friends. Seth noticed that Dean didn’t like talking about his family, and he wasn’t allowed to go to any birthday parties or stuff like that. And then after the beginning of third grade Dean missed about a month of classes until the school sent a social worker to his house. Dean’s dad had left him and his mom, and he was left to more or less take care of her; the thing was Dean’s mom could barely take care of herself, she had a shitty job and used most of her money on drugs, and Dean he had to take care of the house, and make sure his mom went to work and ate something, whatever they had. So when Seth found out that Dean was going to be taken away by said social worker, and that he was possibly going to be sent to a distant relative Seth had panicked. He wasn’t sent anywhere as his mom somehow managed to keep him with her, promising she wasn’t going to keep him from going to school, and that she was going to change her habits. It lasted a whole 2 years, and then Dean’s mother passed away because of a drug overdose. Seth had practically begged his parents to talk to Child Protective Services into adopting Dean, somehow that worked and after almost another year, Seth and Dean were legally brothers. It took some time for Dean to adjust to that life, to be surrounded by people who truly cared about him and who would protect him no matter what, but he came around. So Seth always took it as a small victory whenever Dean showed affection in any way.

After a bit of discussion on whether they should call 911 or not Randy spoke up

“Well since you are ok and everything I think we should get going, you have some dinner to make us Seth”

“Me?” Seth asked offended “Dude I almost drowned in there! I ain’t making anyone anything” He shot Randy a glare and huffed standing up.

“Alright then Daniel needs to cook for us” Randy said turning to Daniel

“What? Me?” Daniel said looking around the circle that his friends had formed “Was I really the last one?”

"Sadly you were baby” Brie said hugging him from the side. He made a face and then sighed. “I guess I do owe you guys dinner” He said.

“How about…” They all turned to look as one of the twins approached them, with the rest of his friends behind him “... I invite you all to my house!” he said grinning at them.

And then he added “See I have this new grill I’ve been trying to use, and my cousin over there” he pointed to where Roman was standing “he can cook man! Like really good” He said excitedly, he even clapped his hands.

His brother came up beside him and told them all that yes his cousin was amazing in the kitchen. Now that Seth looked at them closer he could see that clearly they were twins. Of course they had some differences, but they pretty much looked alike. He also noticed that they both had a tattoo like the one Roman had, only they had it on their left arms instead of the right ones, and also they had more than just one tattoo.

“Besides you guys look like you know how to have fun” the first of the twins said. After that Randy pointed out that they didn’t really know each other. The twins introduced themselves as Jimmy and Jey, Jimmy introduced his girlfriend Naomi, and Jey introduced his girlfriend Layla. Seth looked around and noticed the lack of girlfriend on Roman’s side, but didn’t comment on it. He also noticed Dean looking at Roman like he was studying him or something.

“Ladies and gentleman, we would like to inform you that the park will be closing in 10 minutes” Came a voice from the speakers. They all made their way to the bathrooms and changed, they met at the parking lot and after about 10 minutes decided that yes they would go to Jimmy and Jey’s house.

It should be said that today was Seth’s bad-luck-day; he went from almost falling, to almost drowning, and he hadn’t even got a chance to talk to Nikki at all; and now for some reason he was sitting in the back of the car while Dean got into the driver's seat with Roman getting into the other seat; Roman was going to direct them to the twins house. Once they got in and buckled their seat belts Seth noticed Dean’s strange look again. He was going to ask him before they decided to let Roman ride with them, so now he had to wait it out. Dean then turned the engine on, and before he started driving he turned to Roman and said “Do I know you from somewhere?” Now Seth understood the odd looks Dean was giving Roman. They both were looking at Roman expectantly now; he looked between Dean and Seth and then chuckled, Seth decided to look at the window instead.

“The fact that you don’t remember me makes me not want to tell you” Roman answered and Dean made an annoyed noise. So they did know each other, Seth thought, but from where? Seth had never seen Roman himself, it wasn’t like the city they lived in was too big, but it wasn’t small either so… Dean was scratching his head, obviously trying to remember, but he just looked frustrated and started the car.

“Whatever man. Just tell me where to go” Dean said. Roman started giving him directions they had traveled at least 5 minutes and Roman said they were almost there.

“Turn on the left here and go straight all the way to 37th street” He said and then added with a hint of amusement in his voice “Honestly I am kind of offended that you don’t remember me... Dean” The way he said Dean’s name made Seth shiver slightly and also made him think that there was a lot more going on here that he wanted to know. And then Dean gasped and almost ran a red light, making a harsh stop “Dean!” Yelled Seth. Roman laughed and then said “You remembered” Dean only nodded. The rest of the way nobody said anything, except for Roman when he instructed Dean to turn to the left on 37th street. He said that his cousins’ house was the last one on the street so Dean just had to go straight again.

 

All thoughts of whatever was going on between Roman and Dean vanished for a moment as Seth took in the gates of the place Roman said was his cousin’s house.

“Dude that’s their house?” Dean said clearly skeptical. Roman laughed again, and seriously could the guy be any more laid back? He fished some keys out of his pocket and clicked a button on a little pad, the gates opened and both Seth and Dean’s eyes went as wide as they could go. So apparently it was their house; house? It was a freaking mansion. As they drove inside Seth was trying to take in all of it. The long driveway had some bushes on either side, it led them to a big fountain that was directly in front of the big double doors of the mansion. Roman told Dean to turn right, driving around the fountain and led him to a spacious garage that had 3 very expensive looking cars. The garage only had those cars but it could clearly store a couple more. They got out of the car, and out of the garage as Roman led them into the house. The entryway consisted of a big room, it was pretty empty except for a small table in the middle of it with some vases with flowers on them; a big chandelier hung from the ceiling directly above the table, and there was a broad carpeted stairway on either side. Seth and Dean just stood there in front of the door until Roman motioned for them to follow him. They walked around the table and turned to the right under the stairs, Roman stopped and opened a set of double doors; inside was what Seth thought could be the living room, he didn’t know just how many rooms like this one a house that big could have. The room was big and on the left side the wall was actually made up of just one big window, through it Seth could see a coffee table surrounded by a semi-circular couch, beyond that was a big pool and even beyond that he could make out what looked like a playground.

“Ok” Seth heard Roman said, he turned around from the window. Dean was looking at the big bookshelf that ran on the wall opposite of the window, he then turned around too and Roman continued “I’m going to the kitchen to prepare some stuff, you can stay here and wait for everybody else to get here” The rest of their friends, and Roman’s cousins had gone to the store to buy what they needed for their impromptu barbeque.

“Or you can come with me. After I get what I need I’m going to head outside to get the grill ready, if you guys want to come and check out the pool or the hot tub you are more than welcome to” Dean almost ran outside at the mention of the hot tub, Roman laughed at him and Seth had to turned around so that Dean couldn’t see he was laughing too; sometimes Dean was a little over excited with new things. Seeing that Dean was obviously not going to stay inside Seth follow them to the kitchen, and then outside. Once outside Seth decided to sit on the couch in front of the pool. Dean and Roman seemed to be hitting it off, probably talking about how they had met. The grill was situated right outside the kitchen; it was big and even had countertops, a sink, and what looked like a pizza oven. They had a kitchen outside of the kitchen! With a Pizza oven! In front of a big hot tub! Seth couldn’t believe his eyes. He had only seen houses like that on tv; is not that he was poor, but he clearly was not rich. He lived in a house and had his own room, and he really couldn’t complain, but seeing a house like that? it was just mind blowing.

Roman had offered them some drinks, Dean accepted a beer and Seth opted for a soda. He reclined himself on the sofa watching Dean and Roman for a moment. He was so curious to know how they knew each other. He had some ideas, but he needed to ask Dean; that was going to be a little difficult seeing that Dean and Roman were getting along and chatting so well. He took out his phone and texted Dolph asking him when were they going to get to the house. He was feeling a little lonely, and very hungry. He looked over to Roman and Dean when he heard them laugh. He quickly fumbled with his phone and snapped a picture of them (well mostly of Roman) as they were laughing together. He shove his phone inside his jeans again and let out a sigh. He was still puzzled about Roman and now about both Roman and Dean. Thankfully Roman excused himself as he received a phone call and Seth motioned for Dean to come over to the couch.

“Well?” Seth asked he knew Dean understood what he was asking. But he still said:

“Well... what?” Seth glared at him, raising an eyebrow.

“No, really. What do you mean?”

“What happened? Where do you know Roman from?” Seth asked with impatience.

“Oh.. that…” Dean said clearly uncomfortable.

“Yeah. That” Seth repeated.

“Well, you see…” Dean started to say and Seth could tell he was getting nervous.

“You know that club downtown? The one where they have the… umm… dancers?” He said. Seth nodded he did know the club, but had only been there once before; it was pretty much like any other club: loud music, neon lights, far too many people, but what people liked about it was that they had dancers (or more like stripers Seth thought) female and male dancers alike so that everyone could enjoy the show they put on.

“Well,” Dean continued “You know how after the graduation party last week me and Alicia had a fight?” Seth nodded again. Everyone in their group of friends knew that Dean and Alicia had a thing, it wasn’t even a relationship at least not a serious one (mostly on Dean’s part), but still they were somehow together. Seth knew about their fight, of course, everyone knew about it they just didn’t know why they had that fight.

“I didn’t even stayed the whole party” Dean kept talking “I was mad you know? And so I was gonna head home, but then as I was walking out of the party trying to decide if I was drunk enough to not drive I heard these guys talking about going to the club and ditch the party; so I thought to myself ‘I am celebrating tonight’ I shouldn’t let a little fight keep me from enjoying my night, right? So I asked the guys if they could give me a ride to the club and that I could find a ride back home, so they did” Dean made a pause to take a sip from his beer, Seth wasn’t sure what any of that had to do with Roman, but he figured maybe they had met at the club?

“Once I got to the club I started drinking again and decided to check out the dancers. I don’t know what schedules they have or anything so when I got near the stage I didn’t know who was going to dance, or if it was going to be a girl or a guy. Anyways I stood there, and then the music started playing and boom! there he was on the stage” Dean finished his beer and Seth waited for more, but Dean did not continue. Seth took a minute to think about everything that Dean told him, and oh…

“Roman’s a stripper?!” He asked slightly raising his voice. And really it shouldn’t have surprised him when he heard “I prefer the term exotic dancer” coming from the grill. When did Roman even come back from his phone call? and did he sound a little offended? Did he think Seth was judging him? Is not that Seth had anything against strippers, or exotic dancers or whatever. It just surprised him that Roman had that job; not because of his looks obviously, but for the way he carried himself and his personality; Seth just couldn’t picture him doing… that.

He was going to apologize, or at least say that he didn’t mean to sound judgmental or offensive when he heard people talking and laughing. Their friends had finally arrived and Roman turned his attention to them. Seth sighed, yeah today was definitely not his day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Roman? Poor Seth tho, do you guys think Roman got offended? and yeah I made him a stripper lol What do you guys think of this chapter?


	4. The day is not over yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He also noticed the way Dean and Roman were talking to each other, like they’ve known each other for years, and it makes him more intrigued to know what happened between them. He is sure something happened, by the way of how Dean was telling the story, and how he was acting now. He wishes he could talk to Roman the way Dean talks to him, because so far Seth had only said two sentences to the guy. Literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a slightly longer chapter for today. I hope you guys like it. And tell me what you think of that last paragraph lol

Once everyone was outside Roman started to prepare the food with the help of his cousins and, of all people, Dean. Seth knew for a fact that Dean couldn’t cook anything. Not that Seth himself was a cooking prodigy, but he did help his mom from time to time; Dean, on the other hand, couldn’t be trusted alone in the kitchen. He didn’t say that out loud, of course, instead he sat back on the couch alone and sulking. He knew there was more to the story Dean was telling him and now he couldn’t get it out of his mind. He also couldn’t get out of his mind that Roman was a stripper, and he kicked himself mentally for imagining it. He looked over to the playground and he remembered that Nikki had a thing for swings, it was cute really. She had never had one when she was little so the mere concept of one really got her excited. Seth stood up and threw his soda can in a nearby trashcan. He walked over to Nikki and showed her the playground, they both walked over to it, each took a sit on a swing. Seth smiled at his friend and was grateful for finally getting some time alone with her. Seth thought that this was it. He was finally going to tell her how he felt. His mind started racing trying to find all of the things he wanted to say. He decided to start with the obvious:

“Nikki,” he started “You know you’re a very special friend to me right?” Nikki smiled at him and he smiled back. He hoped that the words he was using were enough to really explain how he felt. “Of course I know,” She said, “Why? Did you do something? Should I be mad at you?” The smile didn’t leave her face as she was saying that, but Seth could tell she was thinking he had done something.

He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head he said “I didn’t do anything”

“Well good,” She said punching his shoulder slightly “So why are you saying that to me? You look serious”

“Well,” he started. He decided to just say it; to stop running away and to just let the chips fall where they may “I have something to tell you, something important” He felt his heart start to beat faster, he was getting nervous, but he couldn’t back down now. And just when he was about to say it Nikki’s sister screamed at them:

“Hey, Nikki! Come on, let's try the hot tub!”

Nikki looked at Seth, probably expecting him to continue. Seth blinked and look back at her, she said, “Is this like really, really important?” He just stared at her and she continued “Because you know, you can tell me some other day if is not” And Seth nodded at her, she smiled and got up from the swing, almost running to her sister. Seth cursed under his breath, today was so not his day. For some reason he was sort of relieved that he didn’t say anything, maybe he could find another moment to tell her, maybe when they were all alone.

Seth got up from the swing, he walked over to where everyone was. Most of his friends were in the hot tub, that thing was huge. Roman was now at the grill with his cousins and Dean. Seth walked passed them and into the house, he was not a big drinker, but he really needed a beer right now. He walked inside and hesitated for a bit, this wasn’t his house so he really couldn’t just grab something, although the twins had assured everyone they could feel at home. He stood there with his back to the door looking at the unopened fridge wondering if he should go outside and ask for a drink, or if he should just grab one when a voice from behind startled him:

“You know it’s not gonna open itself, right?” Seth almost jumped, almost, he did flinch and turned around to see Roman standing in the doorway.

“You want something?” Roman said and Seth nodded. “You know you can just grab it right?” Right. That’s what the twins said. Seth nodded again, but didn’t move, didn’t say anything. Why was it that Roman made him so nervous and left him speechless? Roman moved then walking to the fridge, Seth stepped aside and thought Roman was going to give him the drink, but he saw Roman grabbing food instead. He got out avocadoes, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and other stuff. Seth just stood there, reclined on the countertop, watching Roman. Roman then moved and got out a knife, a cutting board, a big bowl and a big spoon. He hesitated and then grabbed another knife and another cutting board.

“If you’re not gonna do anything, would you mind helping me with these?” He motion to the food on the kitchen island, holding the extra knife and cutting board up. Seth walked over and stood beside Roman, still not saying anything. He took the utensils and grabbed a tomato, he put it on the board and looked at Roman. Roman seemed to understand what he was asking, even when he wasn’t saying anything. “Cubed,” he said, and Seth nodded again.

Seth was on his third tomato when Roman said:

“You know I’m not mad at you or anything right?” Seth stopped doing what he was doing at looked at Roma. Why would Roman be mad at him? and then he remembered the way he sounded when he asked Dean if Roman was a stripper and yeah he could see how Roman could get mad at him from that “I mean lots of people judge me for what I do, is nothing new really. So I am not mad if that’s what you were thinking” Seth felt bad for Roman, he wasn’t judging him he was just surprised. He tried to say so, but all that he managed to say was “I… um.. that’s not… I wasn’t” Dammit he thought, why couldn’t he just say it. Roman was looking at him curiously now. Seth looked down at the tomatoes, he sighed and then said, in a steadier  voice “I wasn’t judging you, not really. I was just… surprised” He sighed then, it was a tiny step, to be able to form a sentence around Roman. Roman punched his shoulder slightly and laughed. Seth frowned and did not take his eyes off the tomatoes. “Surprised? Really?” Roman asked and Seth nodded again. They stayed in silence for a couple more minutes. Seth moved from chopping tomatoes to chopping onions, and Roman was halving the avocados. It was fine like this, Seth thought, to not have to say anything because he wasn’t sure he could form more than one sentence. But as the minutes passed he felt more comfortable so he tried to make conversation.

“So,” he started waiting a little until Roman looked at him and raised an eyebrow expectantly “Where did you learn how to cook?” Seth asked **  
**

“My mom” Roman answered. Seth thought he was going to leave it at that but then he continued. “I always liked it so I asked her to teach me. I want to open my own restaurant too.” If he liked cooking so much and wanted to open a restaurant why was he a stripper? Seth thought to himself, and it was like Roman was reading his mind because he smiled and said “I work where I work because it was easy to get that job and the pay is good. I am saving to rent a place though so that I can open a restaurant. My dad offered me his help, but I want to do it on my own you know?” Seth nodded. Roman chuckled and Seth smiled despite himself as Roman continued “My dad he’s always trying to give me money, says that I should buy a house instead of living in an apartment that he can help me with getting one. I guess is his way of being there for me, but I want to earn things on my own, so I tell him no. Sometimes it frustrates him I think, but even though he says he understands he keeps on offering money here and there” He laughs then and Seth laughs too feeling a little more relieved that he can be talking to Roman, even if Roman is the one doing the talking.

Once they finish making the salad they were making, Seth only noticed after it was finished, they go back outside to join their friends. The food on the grill is almost ready and Seth helps Roman set up the table, a big picnic table that Randy and Daniel help Roman take out of the garage and once it’s done they all sith together to eat. Seth sits besides Dean at the edge of the table,Jimmy seats in front of Dean, and Roman sits in front of Seth. Seth eats his food quality, confirming that yes Roman is a great cook, and listening to his friends chat and laugh among themselves. He looks around and feels a sense of peace and joy, he loves his friends and is grateful to spend this time with them, before some of them leave for College. He looks at Nikki who is sitting besides Brie almost at the other end of the table. He had almost confessed his feelings for her and now he has to plan on how he is going to do it, at least he told Nikki he needed to tell her something. Maybe they could go to get breakfast tomorrow just the two of them and talk, or lunch, or just go for a walk, he thought.

 

He also noticed the way Dean and Roman were talking to each other, like they’ve known each other for years, and it makes him more intrigued to know what happened between them. He is sure something happened, by the way of how Dean was telling the story, and how he was acting now. He wishes he could talk to Roman the way Dean talks to him, because so far Seth had only said two sentences to the guy. Literally.

They ate and laughed and soon it was almost midnight. Despite not being able to talk to Nikki and despite of making Roman think he was judging him, Seth did have a good time. They all made their way out at the same time. Jimmy made them promise him that they would be back soon, he even showed them his impressive movie/videogame collection and they all make plans to come over on monday and maybe stay over. When they were almost at the door they all started exchanging phone numbers. Once that was done they leave, Seth took the keys away from Dean because no matter what Dean said he knows Dean was a little bit tipsy and he tells Dean he doesn’t want to be in a car accident, Dean snorts but gets on the passenger seat anyway. The drive to their house was silent except for the radio, Seth gave Dean little side glances only to find that Dean was slowly drifting, almost asleep by the time they got home.

Seth was itching to ask Dean about Roman. He knew there was something Dean didn’t tell him the night before, maybe because Roman interrupted them, or maybe he was trying to hide it. Whatever it was Seth was definitely going to make Dean tell him. Seth almost had to drag Dean out of the car and inside of the house, it was more because he was pretty much asleep and not because of the beer; he hadn’t been drinking much, but he could sleep for hours and pretty much not wake up even if there was an earthquake or something. He tried to balance Dean on the wall so that he could open the door and Dean almost fell to the ground. The incident made Dean less sleepy, or so it seemed, they got inside and found their mom Stephanie sitting by the couch watching something on the tv; Seth got the feeling that she was there because they weren’t home yet, she always worried a lot about them; now that they were both 18 and in his father’s words ‘responsible adults’ he had said that they didn’t have a curfew anymore, but that they should call home if they were going to stay out late. No drinking was something his mom and dad weren’t on the same page though; his dad said that restricting them would only make them want to drink more, and that if his dad let him drink when he was their age then he didn’t have a problem with it as long as they didn’t drink and drive, and didn’t make it a habit. His mom however had been very clear that she did not want them to drink at all. Seth didn’t have a problem given that he didn’t drink that much anyway; Dean on the other hand liked to party and drink, he didn’t get drunk all the time, but still he didn’t part without booze. Seth closed the door behind him and tried to push and pull Dean inside at the same time, Dean let out some sort of gibberish but seemed to be ok to walk on his own. His mom turned from the tv to the doorway when she heard them, she gave Seth a smile and looked at Dean as if trying to figure out just how much he had to drink

 ****“He fell asleep in the car” Seth murmured and his mom nodded seemingly ok with it. Dean mumbled a good night mom and walked up stairs.  
  
 ****

“Dad asleep?” Seth questioned

“I think so,” his mom answered “Had fun?” she added with a small smile

“Yeah” Seth said, it was a half truth really but that was all he was going to say. He gave her a smile and then yawned “I am tired though. Goodnight mom” She said goodnight and got up from the couch. She had just been waiting for them to get home so she could really rest. Seth smiled and followed his mom upstairs, he heard the tv on his parents room and his dad asking if they were home already. His mom said yes and then the sounds of the tv were cut off and he heard murmured good nights.

He walked into his room and looked for something comfortable to sleep in. He decided to put on a shirt slightly bigger than him and just his boxers, he closed his door and jumped on the bed ready for sleep to finally come. Except it didn’t. He felt really tired but his mind was painfully awake, reliving the day’s events. He had woken up that day feeling confident and ready to finally ask Nikki out, but none of the things he had planned had happened. And then there was Roman who he seemed to be very intrigued by. Also there was whatever happened between Roman and Dean. The fact that Roman made him nervous and how he couldn’t even talk around the guy, and how he seemed really laid back and cool and Seth just seemed like an idiot in front of the guy almost falling and almost drowning. And finally Seth found himself thinking about the fact that Roman was a stripper. Of all the jobs someone could have he was a freaking stripper; Seth tried to not imagine it, to not imagine Roman dancing to some ridiculous slow song, or think of Roman taking his clothes off showing off his big arms and his muscled chest, swaying his hips in rhythm with the music and flipping his hair here and there, passing his hands all over his body, specially around his tattooed arm and chest.

Yeah Seth tried really hard not to do that, hard being the key word here, because before he knew it he was doing exactly that, imagining Roman dancing and stripping and well that made him a little aroused to say the least. He groaned into his pillow and try to think of other stuff, tried to make his erection go away. He rolled around in bed and decided that it was no use in denying that his situation wasn’t going to just go away so he decided to take care matters into his own hands. Literally. He turned so that he was flat on his back opening his legs and shoving his hand inside of his boxers. He just wanted to go to sleep so he tried to do it fast, stroking his member with as much force and speed as he could while also keeping himself aroused. He thought of Roman again without really meaning to because well it was the thought of him dancing that got him in this predicament in the first place, so if he was going to do this he might as well do it with Roman in mind. He imagined it again Roman dancing, and stripping and started to trust his hips up into his hand; then he remembered how Roman looked without a shirt and how it would feel to ran his hands over his chest, to trace his tattoo with his hands or even lick it. He gasped and breathed a “fuck”. He bit into his other hand so that he wouldn’t wake anyone up, that was the last thing he needed really to wake his parents up while having his hand in his boxers. He then imagined Roman actually touching him, giving him that stunning smile. He trusted up a few times and then he started coming in his hand “shit” he hissed, now he had to go to the bathroom and change. He tried not to think of what this meant once he came back to bed. He didn’t want to think about it and he was really tired so he put his earphones on and put his iPod on shuffle, turning the volume a little to focus on the music instead of his thoughts. After a few songs, Seth fell asleep.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was my first time ever writing someone having some "alone time" lol how did that go? I really need to know so that I can know if I'm going in the right direction lol anyways about chapters lenght: short chapters or long ones? Hope you liked this!


	5. Make it happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You know it seems to me that you are waiting for the perfect moment to happen” Roman stated, it wasn’t a question but Seth nodded anyway. “You can’t wait your whole life for the perfect moment, Seth, you can’t be waiting for it to happen, you have to make it happen"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for awkward encounters. Poor Seth tho when is the bad luck going to end?

Seth woke up with the sound of his alarm going off, he rolled in bed extending a hand to grab his phone, 7:00 am it read. He groaned and turned the alarm off; he took his earphones out of his ears noticing that his iPod was dead and he put it on his bedside table along with his phone. He yawned and sat up; he always woke up early to go for a little run but having gone to sleep late last night made him want to just go back to bed; he knew that if he went back to bed he wasn’t going to get much sleep anymore so he got up and walked to the bathroom. He washed his face and brushed his teeth, he changed into some gym shorts, a tank top and put on his running shoes. He tried to forget that yesterday happened, he was embarrassed by the things he did and the way he acted around Roman, he also didn’t want to remember how he couldn’t tell Nikki anything. He sighed and made his way downstairs, when he reached the kitchen he saw a note on the refrigerator’s door that his mom had left; in it she said that there were pancakes in the microwave for him and for Dean and that she and his dad were not going to come home for dinner so she left some money for them to go out or order something. That meant his parents were already out for work and that they were going to have dinner alone at some restaurant. Seth smiled to himself; he was always grateful that his parents were still together unlike some of his friend’s parents. He was also grateful that they made time to be alone from time to time because sometimes between work and house chores they could barely see each other.

Seth grabbed the notepad from the table and a pen and wrote his own message for Dean, in case he woke up before Seth came back from his run; it was unlikely that Dean was going to wake up before noon, but sometimes he surprised Seth, so he wrote:

 

_Went out running, be back in a while_

_- **Seth**_

_P.S Leave me some pancakes._

 

He pinned his note next to his mom’s note and made himself some coffee. He was still a little groggy and he wanted to be completely awake for his run; he also made himself some toast so that he didn’t have to run on an empty stomach. Once he finished he grabbed his keys and his phone, he put on his earphones and walked outside. Seth loved running, it made him feel more alive, it gave him such a high. He was in his high school’s track team and he planned on doing the same at college. Unfortunately, Dean didn’t like running any more than he liked waking up early so he had to go running alone. He didn’t mind much, truth be told, it gave him some time alone with his thoughts. Today though he wasn’t really thrilled about that. He would often run just around the neighborhood, or go to the nearest park and run some laps there. Sometimes when he ran he liked to challenge himself so he would go to a park a little farther from his house. Today he felt like that, he wanted to run until he couldn’t breathe and all that was in his head was the feeling of soreness in his legs and the fast beating of his heart, he wanted to run until he could forget everything. So he googled some parks and he found one that he hadn’t been to. He turned on the navigation on his phone and started walking towards the park. The morning air felt good, but he knew the temperature was going to rise as the day progressed, so he tried to enjoy it.

Once he was at least halfway between his house and the park he started a light jog. As he came closer to the park he noticed that it was located in a nice neighborhood, with really nice and big houses, houses that had expensive cars parked on their driveways and that look like taken out of a movie. When he was a few blocks away from the park he started running. He made a few laps and then he started running faster. With each lap he tried to increase his speed, he concentrated on that and the loud bass thumping in his ears. His “running playlist” consisted mostly of fast paced rock songs that got his blood pumping and his legs ready to run. He closed his eyes for a bit, enjoying the wind on his face and wiping away the sweat that started to form on his forehead. People shouldn’t close their eyes as they are running, Seth thought. Because just after opening his eyes he crashed into another person. Both of them collapsing into each other, Seth was more or less on top of the other person, and his face was mere inches away from the hard ground. Thankfully whoever he ran into (literally) had fell backward somewhat cushioning Seth’s fall. Seth moved to one side, not getting up completely, to face whoever he ran to. He groaned and managed say “I’m so...” before stopping. Because apparently the universe was against him he had run into, of all people, Roman. “sorry” he finished in a hushed tone.

“Are you ok?” Roman asked him, Seth looked at himself and aside from a bruise he was ok so he nodded. Roman managed to sit up a little and supported himself on his elbows.

“Can you move?” Seth tried moving and yeah he could so he nodded again totally missing what Roman was actually asking him until he felt more than heard Roman laughing under him and then he said “I mean can you get off me?”

“Oh,” Seth said lamely and stood up. He was thankful that he had been running because that way he could blame his blushing on that. Roman sat up and look at him with a look that made Seth think he could see right through him. Seth blushed some more and looked the other way. He heard Roman trying to disguise a laugh as coughing and Seth turned and glared at him. That only made Roman actually laugh at him and he didn’t know if he wanted to laugh with him or punch the laugh out of him. “I didn’t know you lived near here” He heard Roman say and he tried his best to actually answer his question, but at the same time he wanted to run away from the guy, so he said:

“I don’t. See you later” he ran before Roman could even say goodbye and went back the way he had come. He had enough running for one day.

He was walking home when he received a text from Nikki

-So what did you want to tell me yesterday?

Seth definitely did not want to tell Nikki over a text message so he texted back

-How about we have lunch together? Just you and me and I tell you?

He was hoping that she would say yes because he was kind of running out of options on how and when to tell her. He was also running out of luck. He felt his phone vibrate again and looked at it.

-Sure. Where? and what time?

-3 pm at the West Avenue Cafe? Do you want me to pick you up?

-Ok. And no, me and Brie are going to the salon at 1 so I’ll meet you there.

-Good, then I’ll see you later.

It was almost 10:30 am when Seth finally made it home. He found Dean already up and sitting on the living room couch, eating pancakes and watching one of the Fast and Furious movies. “Yo,” Dean said as a greeting and Seth responded with “You didn’t finish the pancakes did you?” He wouldn’t put it past Dean to read his note and ignore it, it had happened before.

"I left you 3 ok?” Dean said turning back to the movie.

“Good. I’m taking a shower” He announced and walked upstairs to his room, he found something to wear and proceeded to take his shower. Once out he started to go through his clothes. He wanted to look good for his... date? lunch? lunch date? he didn’t know what to call it, but nonetheless he wanted to look good for Nikki. He wanted to look good for Nikki, but he wanted to look casual, they were just going to a small cafe to eat some sort of sandwich or salad and to talk. After about 15 minutes, he gave up and fell on his bed looking up at the ceiling. He still had hours before he had to leave the house so he didn’t have to worry about clothes just yet. He sighed and then started thinking, again, on how to tell Nikki. They had been friends for almost 4 and a half years now. Asking her out was sure going to be a big thing, it could mean that he was going to have a girlfriend or that he was going to lose a very close friend, or maybe they could reach a neutral ground where they both forget about it and go on as friends, the latter wasn’t very plausible but he hadn't allowed himself to be pessimistic. He told himself that maybe Nikki felt the same way and that today was the day, but then he remembered that he had told himself the same thing yesterday and everything had turned out very differently. And then because he was already thinking of yesterday he started to think about Roman, and about having run into him, literally. God Roman must think I’m the clumsiest guy ever, he thought. And then he thought about Dean’s story of how he knew Roman, and Seth was almost sure that there was more to that story, so he got up from his bed and went downstairs.

Dean was still on the couch, his plate, now empty, sat on the coffee table and he was still watching the same movie which sort of surprised Seth because Dean was the type of guy that got bored at least ten minutes into a movie.

“That’s a first,” he said once he reached the bottom of the stairs.

“What is?” Asked Dean turning to look at him

“You’re still watching that movie,” Seth said pointing at the tv.

“It’s entertaining” Dean mused turning his attention to the tv again.

“Movies usually stop being entertaining to you after about ten minutes” Seth pointed out and Dean just shrugged.

Seth walked into the kitchen and heated his pancakes. He poured himself some milk and took his food back into the living room. Sitting beside Dean he asks him as nonchalantly as possible:

“So what’s the rest of the story?” That sounded really vague, he thinks.

“Of the movie? I haven’t watched all of it” Dean replies, and yeah he definitely sounded vague.

“No,” he says and tries again “I mean the story of you meeting Roman” Dean doesn’t take his eyes off the screen, he doesn’t even flinch when he answers “I told you the whole story”, but Seth knows him and it’s because of it that he knows he was right at thinking something else went down that night. If Dean is telling him the truth he would’ve look at him instead of the tv, and he wouldn’t be tapping his foot the way he was.

“Bullshit!” Seth almost screams the word and that actually makes Dean flinch, small victory Seth thinks while glaring at Dean. Dean turns to look at him and sighs, actual victory Seth thinks. He grins and now is Dean who is glaring at him “Come on, tell me” Seth says, so Dean starts with:

“First of all you gotta understand some things ok?” He asks and Seth nods, so he continues “I was in a fight with Alicia that night, I wasn’t just slightly drunk I was full on wasted so I don’t remember much, and most importantly I really didn’t know what I was doing” Seth just stares at him and wonders if he really wants to hear whatever Dean is going to tell him, he nods again because he asked and now he has to listen to it, besides he had been curious anyways.

“Ok so I saw him dance, and well lets just say that he is really good at his job” He pauses momentarily as if trying to remember just how good Roman is at his job and then continues “I mean that’s what I thought. I’m not sure because I was drunk” He looks at Seth, and Seth says “And then?”

“And then” Dean repeats, and Seth is almost sure that the next part is going to be something that Dean is embarrassed to admit because he makes a face and opens his mouth once, twice, before actually saying “And then because of that I got a little…” he sighs and blinks, and Seth thinks he’s trying to come up with the best words to describe whatever it is that he wants to say. He decides to go for “... excited” Seth looks at him with a raised eyebrow, and Dean motions with his hand to his crotch and Seth bursts out laughing. He even felt tears on his eyes and wiped them away, but then he started to feel a little guilty at laughing at Dean because really Seth was in the same situation last night, and he wasn’t even drunk so he composed himself and muttered a “Sorry”

Dean glared at him, but continued with his story:

“So I walked to the bathroom and I don’t even remember what exactly happened but I remember I was standing in the bathroom and for some reason Roman was there and in my drunken state I think I actually told him that he was the reason why I was… the way I was. And next thing I know is that I’m kissing the guy and I gotta handed to him though he was like a real gentleman” Dean laughs a little at that and continues “He pushed me away and asked me my name, and then he told me that I needed to go home or someone could take advantage of me. I think he called a taxi and I made it home ok?” Dean lets out a sigh and turns around to keep watching the tv. Seth blinks and asks “That’s it?” Because really he was expecting more out of that, not that he thought Roman to be the kind of guy to have one night stands, but then again he didn’t think he was a stripper. Truth be told Seth knows nothing about the guy, other than he’s a really good cook and that he wants to open a restaurant.

“Yeah, that’s it. Why?” Asks Dean and Seth just shrugs and says “I don’t know. I guess I thought there was something more to it” He admits and Dean stares at him as if trying to understand what Seth is saying, and then he laughs and says “Well you thought wrong besides I think he’s straight” Not that Seth had even thought about what Roman’s sexuality was, but now he’s curious about it.

“You think? Didn’t you kiss him?” Seth asks unable to stop himself

“Well I did, but he didn’t kiss me back. At least I don’t think he did, I don’t know Seth I was pretty hammered. And before you ask, no I did not ask him why do you even care?”

Why did he even care? Seth didn’t know, really he shouldn’t care so he said “I don’t, guess I’m just curious” and with that he got up to reheat his pancakes that were already cold. Dean turned around and attempted to watch the movie, but Seth heard him changing the channels settling in something else.

Seth sat at the kitchen table eating his pancakes and trying to memorize what exactly he was going to tell Nikki when Dean walked in and took a seat in front of him.

“So do you have any plans for today? I was thinking of going to the beach what do you say?” Dean asked him. They lived approximately an hour away from the beach and since the start of their summer break 2 weeks ago they’ve been wanting to go.

“I already have plans,” Seth said smiling a little at the look of confusion on Dean’s face.

“You do?” He said raising an eyebrow at him “What kind of plans Set? Because staying home listening to music, does not count” He said with a smirk and Seth laughed at him.

“I’m having lunch with Nikki” and the look on Dean’s face had him laughing a little more.

“Did you finally ask her out?” He said and Seth stopped laughing instantly. He let out a groan and shook his head.

“I told her I needed to talk to her. Like just her” He explained.

“So you’re having lunch with her to ask her out?”

"Yeah I guess?” Seth said more to himself than to Dean.

“What are you going to wear?” Dean asked.

“I have no idea” Seth said and Dean got up from the table tugging his arm and saying “I’ll help you pick something” Seth knew that Dean’s style was basically a black t-shirt and jeans, sometimes he would throw on a black leather jacket, but that was it really. Seth told him as much and Dean just snorted at him pushing him up the stairs to his room. Dean opened Seth’s closet and started looking at it.

“Well, how do you want to look? Are you taking her to a fancy restaurant or?” Dean asked moving shirts back and forth without really looking at them.

“We’re going to a cafe downtown, is not fancy but is not like McDonald’s you know?” Seth explained. Dean nodded in understanding and continued looking for clothes. Seth just sat on the bed looking curiously at him.

“What are you a stylist now?” Seth said laughing a little and Dean tossed a couple of shirts on the bed, and some dress shirts as well. “Or is Alicia still making you wear stuff for her blog?” Alicia wanted to be a stylist herself so she made Dean help her sometimes with her fashion blog. Dean smirked at Seth saying “I let her dress me and she lets me undress her. It’s a win-win situation”

“Really?” Seth asked and then decided to drop the subject “So what, am I going to wear all of this?” He motioned for the five or six shirts on the bed.

“No, dumbass you are going to try each with your best pair of jeans and see which one goes best for the look you are trying to achieve” Dean said, sounding a lot like Alicia and Seth started laughing at him. “Dude just go change” he shot and Seth raised his hands and took the shirts. Before starting to change he said “How do you know which pair is my best pair of jeans?”

“That’s easy, the newest ones” Dean pointed out. Seth looked for those jeans. Maybe Dean’s sense of style wasn’t the same as his, but spending some time with Alicia definitely helped. He started by putting on the jeans, and then he tried each shirt. They both looked at each shirt inspecting it, and finally Seth decided to go for one of his dress shirts. So his outfit consisted of black skinny jeans, a button up black and blue long sleeved plaid shirt, and his black vans.

“What about your hair?” Dean asked him once he was changed.

“I don’t know” He looked at himself in the mirror and brushed his hair seeing how it would look if he was to wear it down, he frowned and gathered his hair up in a ponytail. He sighed and let his hair fall again. “I have no idea of what to do with my hair” he admitted and looked at Dean who seemed to be contemplating just that.

“Ponytail or bun,” He said “Just don’t wear it like that” He added pointing at Seth’s hair.

“Fine” Seth nodded and proceeded to put his hair in a tight ponytail. He looked at his phone then, he still had at least 2 hours before he needed to go meet Nikki. Why did I get ready so early, he thought.

“So when are you meeting her?” Dean questioned.

“3 pm” He answered and Dean laughed at him.

“You should’ve told me that before, it’s way too early,” Dean told him and Seth just shrugged.

“Whatever I’ll just wait,” He said and Dean nodded.

“Well, I’m going to see if Alicia wants to take me to the beach then” With that he walked out leaving Seth alone in his room.

Dean and his dad had been working on fixing a car before graduation, and neither Seth or Dean knew that said car was going to be theirs. The only problem was that they had to share it. It wasn’t a big deal except on days like this one when Dean wanted to go some place and Seth another. Thankfully Dean didn’t make a big deal out of just asking one of their friends, or in this case Alicia, for a ride to wherever he wanted to go.

At around 2:30 pm Seth left his house. He was feeling less nervous and more confident than before, and he was thankful that there wasn’t a lot of traffic. He made it into the cafe at about 2:50 and told the hostess that he wanted a table for two. She led him into the cafe and asked if he preferred a table or a booth, Seth said he wanted a booth. The hostess took him to a booth and he sat more or less facing the entrance so that he could spot Nikki as she entered. He ordered a glass of water, he wanted to wait for Nikki until he had to order anything else. The waitress came to his table in about 5 minutes and he politely told her that he was waiting for someone else so he wasn’t going to ordered yet. She smiled at him and nodded, saying that she would come back once she saw that his date was there, Seth tried not to blush at the “date” part of that sentence and said thank you to her. After about 20 minutes of waiting Seth begin to get a little restless. Was Nikki not going to show? Was she running late? Sure if she was she would at least text him? Nikki texted him after 5 more minutes:

-Seth, I’m so sorry, but I can’t make it. Raincheck?

Well isn’t this great Seth thought. He texted her a simple ‘sure’ to which she responded with ‘text you later’

He let out a sigh and finished his water; he was going to go home but he was hungry, and he was already there so he just made a sign to the waitress who came to him and asked if he wanted more water.

“No, actually I want to order,” He said trying to sound less distraught than how he felt, the waitress gave a little ‘oh’ sound and a sympathetic smile before taking her notepad out. She took his order and left him there. What was it going to take for him to be able to tell Nikki how he felt? Seth was definitely having another day of bad luck because no later than 2 minutes after he ordered his food he saw no other than Roman entering the cafe. He looked the other way, to the window, thinking that maybe if he didn’t make eye contact Roman was not going to see him, and silently cursing himself for choosing to seat where anyone entering the place could see him. So of course Roman saw him, Seth didn’t notice until Roman was there in front of him saying:

“First the park, now here. Small world huh?” Seth looked at him then and noticed Roman was smiling that dazzling smile of his and Seth seriously hoped that he wasn’t fucking blushing.

“Um…” was all he could manage to say before the waitress came back with his drink in hand, she left it in front of him and looked at Roman who was still standing there, all smiles; then she looked at Seth, and back at Roman and Seth prayed that she wasn’t going to ask what he thought she was going to ask. But because he clearly wasn’t having any luck today she asked:

“Is this your date?” She looked surprised at that and Seth felt a little offended. Why would it be surprising to be on a date with him? Was she that judgemental about gay people? Or was it that she couldn’t believe someone like Roman would go out with someone like Seth? He glared at her and then felt slightly guilty, he wasn’t on a date with Roman after all so why did it bother him that she was surprised. Why did he even care what she thought?

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry” she quickly apologized. And Seth just wanted to be swallowed whole, couldn’t the earth just part a little to let him bury his head in it? This moment was all kinds of awkward and thankfully Roman seemed to catch up on it.

“It’s ok,” He said to the waitress and then turned to Seth “Can I sit down Seth?” Seth nodded and the waitress asked Roman if he was going to order something. Roman looked at Seth as if asking him if it was ok to do it. Seth sighed and nodded again. Once he placed his order the waitress left them alone.

A silence fell between them and Seth began to wonder why didn’t he just tell Roman that he wanted to eat alone? then he remembered that for some reason Roman made it impossible for him to speak, or at least to speak clearly. Roman must have felt his discomfort because he looked at him and said:

“Were you waiting for someone? I can leave if you want to” Seth didn’t know what to do. On one hand, he could tell Roman to go and enjoy his lunch in peace. On the other hand he had already said yes and Roman had already ordered his food, the least he could do was let him sit there and eat his food, after all he had run into him that morning.

“No… I mean umm,” He started to say and tried to not look at Roman as he talked or tried to talk “She’s not coming” he finished lamely and hoped Roman understood what he wanted to say.

“Sorry man,” Roman said and Seth looked up to see him smiling softly at him “You sure she’s not coming? Maybe she’s just running late?” Roman said sympathetically.

“I’m sure” Seth muttered, more to himself than to Roman.

“Wanna talk about it?” Roman asked sensing Seth’s discomfort “I know we don’t know each other that much, but I’ve heard that telling a stranger your problems helps. Something about having a different perspective on things than the people you know.” Seth gave that a thought. Maybe Roman was right, maybe what Seth needed was to vent. But Seth could barely manage to speak a few sentences around Roman, how was he going to vent? Then again he didn’t want Roman to think he was purposefully avoiding him, with the not talking thing, so he nodded and somehow he managed to tell Roman how he had a crush on Nikki since he was a freshman and how he was trying to finally confess his feelings. He did so in as little words as possible and was thankful at Roman for not asking too many questions about it.

Their food came then, and both of them ate in a more comfortable silence. They were halfway through lunch when Roman spoke:

“You know it seems to me that you are waiting for the perfect moment to happen” Roman stated, it wasn’t a question but Seth nodded anyway. “You can’t wait your whole life for the perfect moment, Seth, you can’t be waiting for it to happen, you have to make it happen” Seth stared at Roman a little confused and said “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you should just tell her; wherever and whenever, as soon as possible. Just do it” He answered. Seth snorted because that was easier said than done. He had never asked anyone out, and he wasn’t nearly as half as confident as Roman seemed. He also didn’t look as half as good as Roman looked so there was that too. Seth sighed and continued to eat his meal considering what Roman just told him. Maybe it could be that easy? What if he just went with it? He had to, he certainly didn’t want to wait forever.

“I’m sorry,” Seth said suddenly, Roman looked up to him with a confused expression. “About the park?” Seth continued and Roman let out a small laugh “I didn’t see you and…” He trailed off and waited for Roman to say something.

“It’s ok,” Roman said with a smile on his face “If I was paying attention we wouldn’t have collided, it was both our faults so I guess I’m sorry too?” Seth nodded and they dropped the subject; Roman decided to ask other stuff, like what college he was going to go to and what degree he was going to get. Seth felt more comfortable with each passing minute, he was able to hold the conversation and was grateful Roman didn’t rush him into talking. He was still nervous around Roman, but at least he could talk to him more freely. Baby steps, Seth thought.

When the check came Roman insisted in paying for Seth’s food; Seth was reluctant to accept, but in the end he did. They parted ways on the parking lot and Seth got into his car. He decided to take Roman’s advice. He was going to just drive to Nikki’s house and tell her everything already.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the ambreigns thing lol also yay for Seth he finally did it he talked to Roman. What did you guys think of this one? Longest chapter so far! Do you guys like short or long chapters? Let me know and thanks for reading :)


	6. Heartbreaking, or is it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On his drive home, Seth found himself thinking of a conversation he had with his mom that day when he first saw Nikki. He had asked her if she believed in love at first sight, and she smiled at him and told him that she did, but that sometimes falling in love with someone wasn’t as easy as they painted in movies; that maybe you felt you were in love when you saw that person for the first time when in reality you just liked them, especially if you had never experienced either one of those things; that liking someone and being in love with someone were two completely different things.

Seth drove to Nikki’s house with a newfound confidence. Suddenly whatever Nikki might think of him or tell him wasn’t as important as actually telling her how he felt. It had been too damn long and he just needed to let it all out. He reached Nikki’s house and parked his car outside, he quickly looked over to the driveway and was thankful to find Nikki’s car there. Making his way to the front door, he let out a sigh and knocked on it. After a few knocks the door opened and Nikki smiled at him

“Seth! Hi” She said and before she could say anything Seth started talking, or more like rambling.

“Listen I know you must be busy if you couldn’t make it to lunch and that’s fine really, but I really need to tell you something. Something I’ve been dying, literally dying to tell you for so long, but for one thing or another I haven’t been able to tell you and really…” Nikki held a hand out to him. Seth stopped and took a deep breath.

“Seth calm down, you’re rambling,” Nikki said and smiled at him and then Seth continued in a much calmer voice.

“Sorry about that. What I wanted to tell you, what I’ve been meaning to tell you since what feels like forever is that since the first day that I met you I liked you… as more than a friend.” Seth felt a huge sense of relief at finally having said the words and before Nikki could say something he continued “I didn’t say anything before because I never thought you would feel the same, and then you started dating John and well I decided to just be your friend and it has been good really you are an awesome friend. But then when you told me you broke up with him, I just thought I needed to tell you this, and see what happened then” He finished and looked at Nikki her expression was both confusion and maybe a little bit of pity, Seth did not like to think that Nikki was pitying him because of his feelings, just then someone came from inside the house saying:

“Who’s at the door babe?” And really by now Seth should’ve seen it coming. He was already aware of his bad luck, but he had been hoping for something here. The voice was from Nikki’s ex John, who clearly didn’t look like her ex now. Seth looked at him with wide eyes and then at Nikki who was trying very hard to look anywhere instead of looking at Seth. He sighed and she said:

“John, you remember my friend Seth right?” **  
**

“Right, Dean’s brother,” John said smiling at him and Nikki nodded.

“Can you wait inside for a bit? I need to talk to him” Nikki said to John and he nodded before saying “Nice to see you Seth” and disappearing back into the house.

“I thought you two…” Seth trailed off, there was no need for him to finish the sentence, Nikki understood. She came fully outside and walked him towards the steps leading to the front door. They sat down side by side and Seth sighed again, a couple of minutes later Nikki started talking.

“We were broken up, and I thought I was fine with it. Really.” She looked down at her feet while talking. “But then I saw him today and we talked and… I realized that I really, really like him.” She stopped and looked at Seth then. “Seth I think I’m in love with him. And I’m really sorry but I can’t say that I like you that way. You have always been a good friend to me and maybe if you had said something before, maybe something could’ve happened. But now? Now I know that I want to be with John. I’m so sorry Seth” And she did look sorry, Seth thought that she sounded guilty like it was her fault whatever Seth was feeling. And strangely enough, Seth wasn’t feeling angry or sad at her, maybe a little bit disappointed, but that was it. He shooked his head and said “Don’t be sorry Nikki, is not your fault how I feel, or how you feel. I’m glad for you, really. If anything I guess I’m a bit disappointed that I waited so long” He let out a small laugh and Nikki smiled at him.

“Seth, I know you might not believe me right now, but I think that one day you will find your real love” she emphasized the word real and waited for Seth to say something, when he didn’t she continued. “You might think you love me Seth, but I know you and you’ve never been out with anyone else. And now that I think about it, it was because of me wasn’t it?” She asked and Seth nodded embarrassingly. “See? You haven’t let yourself fall for anyone else, you know? You haven’t… tried. You might think you’re in love with me, but you could be in love with someone else and not even realized it because you’re so focused on me.” Nikki finishes.

“When did you get so wise?” Seth asked her teasingly and she punched him playfully on the shoulder.

“I’m serious Seth.” She stated, but she was smiling and Seth considered her words. Would it be possible that she was right? That because he had been always focused on her he hadn’t noticed other people? That maybe he was attracted to someone and wrote it off as something else because he was sure he loved Nikki? If he was sure of anything right now was that Nikki was right. He loved Nikki, sure, but he wasn’t in love with her. He had always thought that he was, but he wasn’t. He realized that the only thing that still made him think that way was the fact that he never told Nikki, but now that he did he felt relieved and sure of his feelings.

“I know you are. Thanks, I guess? for opening my eyes?” He asked smiling at her.

“Anytime,” She said and smiled at him. They hugged each other and then got up from the steps.

“I guess I’ll leave you now,” Seth said after they were standing again. “I’ll see you later,” He said, she waved him goodbye and Seth walked to his car.

On his drive home, Seth found himself thinking of a conversation he had with his mom that day when he first saw Nikki. He had asked her if she believed in love at first sight, and she smiled at him and told him that she did, but that sometimes falling in love with someone wasn’t as easy as they painted in movies; that maybe you felt you were in love when you saw that person for the first time when in reality you just liked them, especially if you had never experienced either one of those things; that liking someone and being in love with someone were two completely different things. For Seth it had been that way, he had never liked (or fallen in love with) anyone before Nikki, so when he saw her he immediately thought he was in love, and even after his talk with his mom, he was sure of it. Thinking about it now he realized that it had been nothing but a crush, an innocent high school crush. He was happy about it because he didn’t know how he would’ve felt if he had been in love and discovered that after all Nikki was in love with John, he guessed that he wouldn’t feel any good.

When he reached his house he found that Dean wasn’t there, he texted him and asked him if he was at the beach. Dean texted back saying that he was and asked him how things went. Seth texted him that he would tell him everything once he got home. He walked upstairs to his room and changed into some sweatpants, he didn’t bother in wearing a t-shirt and flopped on his bed, staring up at the ceiling he sighed. His clock on the bedside table marked 4:45 pm when his phone buzzed, he thought it was Dean again trying to get him to talk about Nikki, but he was surprised when the notification read that he had a new message from Roman. He sat up and reclined himself against the headboard of the bed. The message read:

_**R-** Did you think about what I told you? You know about making it happen?_

Seth laughed a little to himself, and hit the reply button typing:

_**S-** Actually I did_

His phone buzzed again

_**R-** How did it go?_

_**S-** She said that she’s in love with her ex, who is her boyfriend again_

When his phone didn’t immediately buzzed again, Seth put it down and looked for his iPod. He plugged his earphones in and hit play. His phone vibrated again and he grabbed it. He turned so that he was lying in his stomach and read the message.

_**R-** Sorry man. Maybe I shouldn’t go around giving people relationship advice._

Seth laughed at Roman’s text and quickly typed back:

_**S-** Not your fault. I think you actually helped me._

_**R-** How?_

**S-** _I realized that I really wasn’t in love with her. It’s complicated to explain_

**_R-_ ** _It’s ok you don’t have to explain. I’m glad I was helpful_

Seth laughed again and responded with:

_**S-** Yeah, thanks_

_**R-** Anytime_

With that Seth didn’t know how to continue the conversation, so he just locked his phone and let himself get lost in the music. Soon he fell asleep.

When Seth woke up it was dark outside and Dean was jumping on his bed. Seth took a pillow and threw it at him. Dean docked and the pillow ended up on the floor. Seth groaned and took his earphones out, he looked groggily around, his clock read 10 pm. Dean stopped jumping and sat on the bed as Seth sat up yawning and stretching. He shot Dean a glare to which Dean responded with a wide grin.  
 ****

“You know there are better ways to wake someone up right? Like letting them sleep until they wake up on their own?” Seth said scratching his neck. He ran a hand through his hair and yawned again.

“Yeah well I can’t wait to hear how your non-date to get a date went” Dean replied.

Seth ignored that and got up, untangling his earphones and setting them and his iPod on his dresser. “Are mom and dad home yet?” He asked instead as he looked for a shirt. He pulled a gray shirt from one of his drawers and put it on.

“No, and don’t change the subject” Dean answered.

Seth settled for “It was good and bad” Dean gave him a confused look and said “How come?”

“Well she couldn’t make it to the restaurant,” Seth said.

“So you didn’t tell her?” Dean questioned.

“Oh, I did tell her after I finished my food I went straight to her house and told her” When he didn’t continue Dean asked “And? What did she say?”

“She said that she could only see me as her friend and that she was in love with John. Who, by the way, was there and they are together again” Seth finished quickly and he didn’t know whether Dean felt sorry for him or wanted to laugh at him.

“That sucks man,” Dean said and Seth nodded.

“It’s cool, though, I sorta realized that I’m not really in love with her. Like I had a crush on her but that was it you know?” He said. Dean was right out gaping at him now and Seth laughed at how he looked.

“You mean to tell me that all this time you didn’t really loved her? Why didn’t you go out with anyone then?” Dean asked and Seth shrugged “I guess I was confused” He replied and Dean snorted.

“Well then now you can enjoy your youth and date as many girls as you want” Seth shook his head at Dean’s musings. It seemed like Dean’s personal life goal was to get Seth to hook up with someone, he was reminded every time that he tried, that Seth didn’t have eyes for anyone but Nikki. Seth feared that now that Dean knew Seth wasn’t really in love with Nikki he was going to try to get him a date again every time they went out.

“Mom left money for food, let’s order pizza,” Seth said deciding that changing the conversation was better than listening to Dean’s list of single friends.

“Pepperoni, bacon and sausage for me” Announced Dean and left Seth in the room.

Seth sighed and unlocked his phone he noticed that he had a new message he hadn’t read. It was from Roman.

_**R-** I mean it. If you ever need to talk about anything you can call me, or text me._

Texting Roman was so much easier than talking to him in person, Seth thought while he texted him back with:

**S-** _Thanks. I will consider it._

His phone buzzed immediately and Seth felt a strange sense of pride and something else at the thought of Roman responding so fast.

_**R-** Like I said I’m glad I can help._

Seth looked at his phone and smiled a little. Roman was a great guy even when Seth acted so awkward and clumsy around him Roman hadn't called him up on it. He was laid back and cool and he was even offering Seth advice. Seth liked the idea of having a friend like Roman.

**S-** _What’s the best pizza place in town?_

 Seth texted him knowing that Roman was a great cook, he would certainly know the answer to that; his phone buzzed again and Seth laughed out loud when he read it

_**R-** My place of course_

He walked out of his room and down the stairs where Dean was sitting in the living room playing Mortal Kombat.

_**S-** Do you deliver?_

He asked still laughing and was surprised with the answer he got.

_**R-** If you want some? yeah._

He frowned at his phone. He was ok with texting Roman, but he didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of him again, besides he had paid for their lunch and Seth wasn’t going to ask him to make a pizza.

_**S-** No, no I was joking you don’t have to make anything._

He was already nervous. What if Roman insisted on doing it anyway? What if he decided to just come to his house? Seth subconsciously looked at himself. He was wearing an old pair of very faded black sweatpants and a gray t-shirt, and he was barefoot. His phone buzzed again.

_**R-** It’s really not a problem_

Seth decided to change the subject

 **S-** _Aren’t you like at work right now?_

He worked at a club and it was a little past 10, so he should be at work right?

_**R-** Is my night off_

Of course it is, Seth thought.

_**S-** You really don’t have to. I don’t want to bother you._

_**R-** It's not a problem but if that’s what you want alright then, but it’s your loss._

Seth laughed out loud at that and Dean paused his game to look at him

“Did you order the pizza? Who are you texting?” Seth let out a small nervous laugh and said:

“I’m looking for a good place” Dean shook his head at him but went back to his game.

_**S-** Maybe some other time_

Why was he telling him that?

_**R-** Whenever you want. On one condition_

_**S-** What condition?_

_**R-** You’re gonna have to help me make it_

Seth thought it was for the best to never ask anything from Roman if he had to be near him again. Not that he didn’t enjoy his company, after having lunch with him he felt more comfortable and less awkward around Roman, still he thought it was better to avoid him. His phone buzzed again

_**R-** So to answer your question. The next best thing is Bambino’s want the number?_

_**S-** Sure_

After saving the number on his phone, Seth proceeded to text Roman a goodnight text saying that after eating the pizza he was going to bed. He placed his order and after 25 minutes there was a knock on the door. Dean did a little fist pump without even taking his eyes off the screen and Seth got up to answer it. He took the pizzas to the kitchen table and looked around for plates and napkins while Dean took out two sodas. They sat at the kitchen table eating their pizza.

“Now that you’re not crushing on Nikki anymore we should go out and get you laid, and me too.” Dean said around a mouthful of pizza, Seth snorted at him and shook his head.

“What do you mean you too? What about Alicia?” Seth asked him.

“What about her?” Dean asked like it was nothing.

“Aren’t you two together?” Seth countered.

“We’re not exclusive,” Dean said shrugging.

“Does she know that you’re not exclusive?” Seth questioned raising an eyebrow at Dean.

“It’s implied,” Dean said simply.

“By you” Seth insisted.

Dean made an annoyed sound and Seth knew he was right. He loved his brother, but he knew sometimes he could be a grade A asshole.

“You should talk to her. Is that why you guys had a fight?” Seth remembered the fight they had at the graduation party, but he didn’t know what had caused it.

“Maybe. I don’t know if I should talk to her” Dean said.

“You think she wants to be exclusive,” Seth said, it wasn’t a question but still Dean shook his head

“I know she does. That’s the problem” He let out a sigh and finished his pizza.

“Look she’s my friend ok? So I think you should talk to her before she gets hurt” Seth told Dean once he got up from the table. Dean stared at him for a moment and Seth thought that he was going to say something else,  but he just nodded and went back to the living room.

After clearing the table Seth washed the plates they had used, and then he heard the front door open and the voice of his parents talking. After talking to them about how their day went, Seth and Dean stayed up playing video games and fell asleep on the living room couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Seth finally talked to Nikki! What did you guys think of this chapter?


	7. The club is for dancing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Stop it Dean!” He said trying to calm Dean while also rubbing his jaw and staring angrily at Johnny. The douche had the fucking audacity of smirking his way which only made Dean try to fight him even more and Seth did want that, he would love to see the smirk being punched out of his face, but he didn’t want Dean to get into any trouble or to get into it himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shenanigans at the club! Pardon, my small knowledge of the club life lol I should research more before I write, so if anything seems unrealistic or plain dumb feel free to tell me, anyways enjoy :)

The next morning Seth woke up startled by the sound of his alarm and falling off the couch, he got up groaning and looked around for his phone; he found it on the floor below the coffee table and turned it off. He definitely needed to change his alarm if he was going to sleep until late. He and Dean had been playing video games for hours and he went to sleep at around 4 am, so waking up at 7 didn’t sit well with him. He was already awake so he just went upstairs to brush his teeth and use the bathroom; he changed his alarm so that the next day it woke him up at 9:30 instead of 7 am and made himself a light breakfast before going on his daily run.

 

 

He decided to just run laps around his neighborhood, he surely did not want a repeat of yesterday’s run so he kept it simple. By the time he got home, he noticed that he didn’t have much to do so he decided to play some more Mortal Kombat before Dean woke up. He was tired from his run and from not sleeping more than 3 hours, however, so after he took a shower he fell asleep on the living room couch.

The next time he woke up it was because Dean was poking him and asking him if he was asleep. He opened his eyes and glared at him.

“Well I was asleep until you interrupted me,” He said and yawned as he sat up on the couch. Dean grinned at him and said “Well now that you are awake you can make us something to eat”

“You woke me up because you couldn’t make yourself something to eat?” Seth asked incredulously. Dean didn’t even look guilty while he nodded and Seth decided to punch him lightly on the shoulder shaking his head.

“Also so that we could go out,” Dean said. He wasn’t asking Seth if he wanted to go out, he was simply stating that it was what they were going to do.

 

That’s why Seth found himself sitting at the bar in a club a couple of hours later. Dean had an ability to convince people of doing things that was beyond unfair, Seth though. That’s how he had gotten out of detention several times during high school, and also how he had gotten himself out of being grounded, and also how he had made Seth agreed on going to the club with him. Dean had said that he was going to be Seth’s wingman so that he could hook up with someone, but Seth shut him down even before he finished his sentence, he then said that he would call some of his friends so that it wouldn’t be just the two of them. They got in the car and Dean insisted on driving, Seth regretted his decision to come when he saw what club Dean wanted to go to. It was the same club where Roman worked, Seth wasn’t even inside and he already wanted to leave, but he didn’t have a good excuse to do so. Once inside Seth noticed that the place was not completely empty although he thought it would be since Dean had insisted on going there pretty early. It wasn’t full of people either and the music wasn’t that loud, Seth thought that it would get pretty loud once the place was full.

They walked to one of the tables that were set up in front of a stage and once they sat down Dean said:

“I heard that they hired new dancers” Smiling widely at him

“So that’s why you wanted to come?” Seth asked shaking his head. He wasn’t really interested in any dancers, and most importantly, he did not want to know how Roman looked like up on the stage. For some reason he was sure Roman was really good at it and that only made him want to leave the place even more, he got up and told Dean he was going to get something from the bar.

So there he was now sitting on a stool at the bar of a club while his brother sat front row waiting for the show, and none of his friends had showed up yet. He sighed and looked around for the bartender, he almost bolted out of the place when he saw Roman come up to him.

“What can I get you?” He said, and then he look at him more clearly and recognized him “Seth?” He said and then smiled at him “How’s it going, man?” He asked while Seth just stared at him. After a minute he composed himself and instead of answering him Seth asked clearly confused:

“I thought you were a dancer?”

“Is that why you’re here? To see me dance?” Roman said amused and laughed a little. Seth’s eyes went wide at the question and he shook his head almost too fast. When Roman kept laughing at him Seth glared at him, his cheeks no doubt turning red. “I’m just playing" Roman assured him stopping his laugh.

“Actually Dean dragged me here” He admitted with a slump of his shoulders and Roman gave him a small smile.

“So, are you getting something to drink?” He asked as he motioned to the selection of alcoholic beverages behind him.

“A soda?” Seth said it was more of a question and that made Roman’s smile grow wider.

“Good choice” He said and Seth looked at him curiously “I know you’re not 21” He added and Seth looked away; after he turned around and opened what looked like a small fridge; he got out a can of coca-cola and placed it in front of Seth, then he took a small glass and placed it beside it. “Ice?” He asked and Seth nodded. When Roman finished serving him the drink Seth looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

“I am a dancer, but when I’m not dancing I’m a bartender,” Roman said, answering Seth’s previous question. Seth nodded and started drinking his soda.

“Have fun!” Roman said as he went to attend someone else.

 

After about 20 minutes, the place was packed and his friends were finally there. Nikki had texted saying that she and Brie weren’t going because they were out with Daniel and John. Randy, Cody, and Ted got there first; Dolph and Lana came in together and the last one there was Alicia, who surprisingly was accompanied by a guy Seth recognized from their High School. She introduced the guy as Johnny and said that some of his friends were going to join them too. Johnny was one of those guys that everyone knew even if they didn’t hang out with them, he was really popular during high school, but he wasn’t exactly friends with anyone from Seth’s group of friends; well it seemed that now he was Alicia’s friend. Everyone shared confused looks because they clearly were not expecting that. Dean had told Seth that while he was sleeping that day he had talked to Alicia over the phone about their situation, insisting that she had agreed on the non-exclusive part of their relationship; Seth had been skeptical about it and had texted her asking for confirmation, when she said that yes she was ok with it Seth felt a little more relaxed about going to the club. But Seth knew his friend and he could clearly see that she wanted Dean to be jealous maybe to make him realized how she felt; He also knew Dean, of course, and knew that seeing her with someone else was only going to make him feel better about the whole situation.

 

Johnny’s friends turned out to be three guys that looked like complete douchebags. Not that he seemed to be any less of a jerk. The thing was that they looked like the kind of people that thought they were better than everyone else, while also looking like they would fight anyone for about anything. Alicia introduced these guys as Mike, Alberto, and Chris. The three of them gave Seth and his friends an indifferent look and proceeded to seat beside Johnny and Alicia, ignoring everyone else. Seth shook his head at Alicia who just rolled her eyes and asked him about Dean, Seth pointed to Dean who was still up front while Seth and the rest of his friends were sitting closer to the bar on a booth that was surprisingly big enough for all of them. He watched as she made a face and, as he looked closer, he saw that Dean was now talking and laughing with some blonde. He gave Alicia an apologetic look and asked her if she was ok; she assured him that she was fine, although it was clear she wasn’t.

 

After a bit of talking, and some drinking Seth and his friends, minus Alicia and her new friends, got up and made their way to the dancefloor. It was a bit difficult to dance with so many people around, but Seth still enjoyed it. He loved dancing almost as much as running, it gave him the same kind of feeling. A couple of songs passed before he felt a bit thirsty and went to get another soda, when he got to the bar he was half-expecting and half-hoping that Roman would be the one to serve him his drink, but once there he noticed that there were two other guys and no sign of Roman. He drank his coke in almost one gulp and headed back to the dancefloor. He spared a glance towards the table Alicia was seating at and found her still sitting and talking with Johnny, she looked like she was sulking but tried her best to look like she was having a good time. He then looked over to where Dean was sitting and noticed how some more people, mainly girls, were gathering around the stage. Curious Seth walked over with the excuse of asking Dean about Alicia. He had to lean down and almost scream in Dean’s ear for him to understand what he was saying.

 

“Hey, did you talk to Alicia? She’s here” Seth motioned to the table where Alicia was and Dean cocked his head to the side and looked over to where he was pointing.

“I didn’t see her come in, she didn’t even say hi,” Dean told Seth.

“Are you gonna go over there?” Seth asked and Dean only shrugged. Seth sighed and shook his head.

 

He was about to go back to his friends when he heard the music volume go down a bit and a voice announcing that a dancer was about to take the stage. The people around him erupted in cheers and his curiosity made him stay in place and focus on the stage sitting beside Dean; when Dean looked at him and raised his eyebrow Seth only shrugged and said he was curious, Dean only nodded and kept talking to his new “friend”, a petite blond that was now practically sitting on his lap.

 

The music volume turned up again and the stage was illuminated by some lights. The song changed from it’s fast paced beat to one that was slower but could still be danced to. Seth’s eyes went wide and he gasped when he saw the dancer on the stage. It was Roman. Wearing some very thight jeans and suspenders with no shirt on. His hair was up in a bun that he quickly got rid of, that alone made a lot of girls squeal and whistle. Seth looked over at Dean and realized he wasn’t even paying attention, he was too busy making out with the blonde to even know what was happening around him, a particularly loud shout made Seth turned around again. Roman was now dancing and nothing Seth had imagined compared to the real thing. Sure he had only imagined Roman dancing once, but seeing it in person was so different, and he definitely liked it. What is happening to me? he thought. He watched as Roman moved rotating his hips while playing with the suspenders, his hair flowing around his arms, he turned around slowly holding on to the suspenders and once he was facing the crowd again he passed both of his hands through his hair. Seth found himself wanting to run his hands through Roman’s hair too. Roman then dropped down to his knees and used his hands to support himself while he trusted his hips up. He sat up a bit then, still kneeling he ran his hands through his hair again but this time he continued down to his chest and torso, he trusted up a couple more times before he got up and took the suspenders off along with his pants, more whistles and screams were heard and Seth couldn’t take his eyes off of Roman, who was now only wearing really tight shorts that covered only what seemed necessary. He was enthralled by Roman’s movements, that is until for some reason Roman looked his way, and spotted him. He stared at him for a moment and winked, he fucking winked and Seth decided that going to the restroom at that point was the best course of action. So without any explanation to Dean, who wasn’t even paying attention to him anyway, he got up and walked towards the bathrooms.

Seth walked into the bathroom and was relieved to see that they were empty. He was well aware of the side effects of watching Roman dancing as he looked down at his crotch. He muttered a fuck and looked at himself in one of the mirrors above the sink get it together Seth, he thought as he splashed cold water on his face. He closed his eyes and shook his head as he tried to think of something other than Roman. The thing was that as aroused as he was at having watched Roman dancing, he was still so confused about the whole thing. He couldn’t deny that he found Roman attractive, anyone with a good eyesight could see just how attractive he was. But Seth’s lack of experience on dating made him question his interest in Roman. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, he had opted for wearing it down, but with the dancing it had gotten sweaty and he decided to put it up in a bun before leaving the bathroom.

 

All thoughts of Roman vanished when he walked to the table Dean was seating at. Before he reached it he saw that Alicia and Dean were standing face to face and it was clear they were having an argument. He could also see Johnny and Dean’s new friend standing right there with them, looking slightly out of place like they didn’t know what to do. Johnny also looked pissed and Seth walked faster to them.

“You are so full of shit!” Seth heard Alicia yell once he reached them.

“Whatever,” Dean said and he tried to turn around to end the argument but was caught by Alicia’s hand on his shoulder.

“Oh hell no!” She yelled again “You ain’t walking away from me”

“What’s going on?” Seth asked startling both of them. Dean avoided Seth’s gaze so he turned to Alicia.

“You’re brother is being an ass as usual,” She said and he turned to Dean

“What happened Dean?” He asked a little exasperated.

“Is nothing, ok?” Dean shouted looking at Seth, he then turned to Alicia and said “Why don’t you just go back to your table with Mr Douchebag here” He pointed to Johnny and Seth almost punched him in the face. Almost because as soon as he said it Johnny stepped up past Seth pushing Dean who stumbled backward hitting the table behind him. Dean composed himself and pushed Johnny back and Seth positioned himself between them in an effort to stop the fight that would inevitably break; but the fight was already there because as soon as he stepped between them he was received with a punch to the jaw by Johnny.

“You son of a bitch!” Seth heard Dean screamed and through his pain he tried to stop Dean for making this into a bigger deal than it already was. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him back slightly.

“Stop it, Dean!” He said trying to calm Dean while also rubbing his jaw and staring angrily at Johnny. The douche had the fucking audacity of smirking his way which only made Dean try to fight him even more and Seth did want that, he would love to see the smirk being punched out of his face, but he didn’t want Dean to get into any trouble or to get into it himself. Dean managed to disentangle himself from Seth’s hold and jumped on Johnny, both of them collapsing onto the floor and Alicia screamed at them to please stop. They rolled around the floor with Johnny ending up on top of Dean, as people gathered around to watch them fight, phones ready to record the show. Seth took it upon himself to try and separate them and almost got another punch when he finally got Johnny off of Dean and up to his feet, but before he could hit him he was being held from behind by a very familiar pair of hands. Roman.

“Enough! What the hell is going on?” Roman asked while Seth maneuvered himself around Johnny and Roman and helped Dean get up from the floor.

No one said anything as Johnny and Dean stared each other down. Two big guys that had black shirts with the word Security on them stepped through the crowd asking everyone to go back to their previous activities. Seth saw as his friends stayed close to them waiting to see what was going on, although Seth had a pretty good idea as to what was going to happen.

 

The next few minutes were tense and complicated, Dean and Johnny both blamed each other and almost had another fight. It ended with them being thrown out of the club and Seth telling his friends that he was going home with Dean. His friends understood the situation and decided to go home too; Alicia was leaving with Johnny and Seth tried to talk to her, but she was upset and wouldn’t listen only saying that maybe they could talk some other time. Once outside Seth and Dean walked over to their car. Below the street light Seth could see that Dean had gotten some punches and his left eye was starting to bruise, he had some blood on his lower lip and his jaw looked swollen. Seth’s jaw was definitely swollen and he was dreading the drive back home, his mom was surely going to freak out. He opened the car and Dean got into the passenger side, Seth could tell that Dean was still mad and he knew it was better to wait until he calmed down to talk about what had happened. Before he got in the car he heard someone shout his name.

“Hey Seth! wait!” It was Roman who was now walking towards them holding something in his hand.

Seth closed the door and leaned in the car waiting. He was really embarrassed about the situation, he thought that now that Roman had seen this he would no longer want to be his friend.

“Here take this” Roman said extending his hand “It’s ice, for you jaw” He said as Seth looked at his hand. He noticed that Roman had another bag of ice on his other hand too. “This is for Dean” he explained and handed that bag to Seth too. Seth took it and opened the door tossing the bag to Dean.

“Are you guys ok? Do you need to go to the ER?” Roman asked concerned and Seth found himself to be once again speechless. Roman was once again helping him and all Seth could do was stare at him. “Does your jaw hurt? Can you talk?” Roman asked. Seth tried opening and closing his mouth, he winced but was thankful that he could actually do it. He put the ice on it and with his other hand he felt around it to see if he had any loose teeth, he didn’t have any and he put his hand down as Roman studied his face stepping closer. Seth focused in the parking lot behind Roman as he slowly tilted his chin up and inspected his jaw. “You don’t think is broken do you?” He asked and Seth shook his head.

“Well I hope you’re right. You should see a doctor anyway” Roman said letting go of Seth’s chin and stepping back.

“Thank…” Seth was about to thank Roman when it occurred to him that he had not thank him the day he literally saved his life at the water park. His eyes grew wide in realization and Roman shot him an odd look. “I just realized” Seth continued “I never thanked you for saving my life… so… thank you” He said the last part with a much lower voice and Roman once again stepped closer.

“You’re welcome” Roman said with a smile. “I guess I’ll go inside now. Take care.” He said and then added “Oh and make sure he also takes care of his face, if you’re not gonna see a doctor” He nodded towards Dean and waved him goodbye. Seth murmured a goodbye and got into the car.

“What did he say?” Dean asked sounding a lot calmer than before.

“That we should see a doctor” Seth answered turning on the engine.

“Maybe we should” Dean said. Seth hummed in agreement as he put on his seat belt.

“What do you think mom and dad will say?” Seth asked as he drove out of the parking lot.

“I think mom is going to be pissed, and dad will probably laugh at us,” Dean said and despite the pain they both laughed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about that? Did you like this chapter? I tried really hard to describe the dance scene and I don't know how that went :/ what did you guys think of it?


	8. Assumptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are you like seeing someone?”
> 
> The question felt weird and foreign and all Seth thought to do was laugh. He almost choked on his food and there were tears on his eyes because of how hard he was laughing. Dean looked at him like he had lost his mind and then raised his eyebrow, clearly waiting for an answer.
> 
> “Who would I be seeing? Besides we haven’t left the house in almost two weeks dude” He replied and laughed a little more.
> 
> “Well you have been texting someone a lot lately, and I would bet you anything that is the same person you were texting just now. You get all…” He made a gesture with his hands, more like flailed them around “... giddy and blush and laugh and I don’t know man I’ve never seen you like that”
> 
> What. What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Longer than the one before.

After a forced visit to the hospital, Seth was relieved to know that his jaw wasn’t broken and neither was Dean’s. They had gotten home to their mom waiting on them again, and after a quick description of the night’s events she had practically dragged them to the ER; she was equally pissed and worried and as Dean had guessed their dad laughed and even fist bump them; their mom had scolded him for it and he just shrugged and said “fighting is what we do” with a wide smile. Seth’s dad, Hunter, was a sales supervisor for a company that sold cars and he always said that his family was a family of fighters, although sometimes he could take that quite literally. In his youth he had tried boxing but didn’t make a career out of it, instead he settled by marrying Seth’s mom and going to college.

****

The very next day after the fight, Roman had showed up with his cousins to check up on Dean and Seth, he had brought them homemade brownies and they had stayed there for a couple of hours. Randy, Dolph, and Lana had visited in the afternoon while his other friends had texted and called to ask how they were. Aside from the pain Seth just felt bored, his mom had asked him not to go running until his jaw was all healed, she had told him that he could fall and injure himself even more. So Seth found himself with not much to do for almost a week (his mom insisted on them to stay at home for that long), he and Dean would just play video games or watch movies, during the next days his friends would show up to keep them company and that made him feel a little less bored, that and the fact that Roman texted him at least once to ask how he was doing. Even though Roman was texting him, he hadn’t visited Seth since the first day and Seth tried to not feel disappointed in that, telling himself that Roman had been a good friend to him by helping him, and he still was a good friend by checking up on him through texts. Still Seth would’ve liked for him to visit, and didn’t that felt weird to him? It sure as hell did. The next couple of days went by without any other incidents. 

****

Out of all of his friends Alicia was the one that had not visited, which didn’t surprise Seth given how things had gotten that night. Still she didn’t call him or returned his texts and he was feeling really bad about the whole thing, not that it was his fault, but he cared about Alicia and didn’t want to lose her as a friend. Dean had told him that it was over between them because after what had happened he was sure Alicia was not going to accept the type of relationship Dean wanted to have.

“Do you even care about her?” Seth asked Dean. They were sitting in their backyard patio, on a swing that they had put under a big tree. It was getting dark outside, but it was still hot, somehow that didn’t stop them from going outside.

“Contrary to popular belief I do have feelings” Dean answered with a small glint of hurt in his eyes, he sighed and continued “I do care, but I do not want a relationship. Not like the one she wants anyway” Seth sighed too and tried to understand Dean’s feelings. Dean had always been very smart and wise, and Seth almost saw him as this grown man who was more advanced in every aspect of life than him. He seemed to have matured way before Seth, and sometimes that put a distance between them, especially when it came to understanding each others feelings. Although there were other instances when it seemed like Dean was a 5-year-old child, and it always made Seth confused.

“Have  you talked to her? Has she tried to talk to you?” Seth had asked Dean about the fight, about how it started. Dean had said that it started with Alicia coming to the table he was sitting at almost demanding his attention, she clearly wanted Dean to notice that she had company; Dean had acknowledged her and her date and he went on with his night. Apparently that had made her mad and she had asked him to talk; Dean described it as a desperate cry for attention; she wanted desperately for Dean to see things her way, and when that didn’t happen she had lost it. She started calling Renee (Dean’s new friend) several things and Dean was not about to let that happen, but Dean was Dean and instead of doing things in the mature way he should’ve he started saying things about Alicia’s date and that’s how Seth had found them: yelling at each other.

“I haven’t and she hasn’t either. I don’t even know if she will ever talk to me again, but what can I do?” With that, Dean got up and went inside, leaving Seth alone in the swing. It was obvious that Dean was hurt by this. After the fight they had at the graduation party, Seth thought Dean and Alicia were closer than before, but Dean didn’t want to be in that type of relationship even if he had feelings for her. It all was really confusing for Seth. If he had had the chance to be with someone he liked and cared about, he wouldn’t have had any doubts or conditions about it. Then again he had never been in that position so he didn’t really know what he would’ve done. His phone chirped inside of his short’s pocket and he smiled to himself already knowing it had to be Roman. They had been texting more and more during the week, not only did Roman texted to ask how he was he also texted Seth questions about nothing in particular and nonsense like funny pictures or links to funny videos and Seth was really glad that he did.

**R-** _How’s your jaw?_

It had been about a week and a half after the fight and Seth was completely recovered, Dean still had some purple around his eye, but he was otherwise fine.

**S-** _All good. Ready for the next punch._

Seth joked and decided to head inside too. He was getting sweaty now and hungry.

**R-** _You joke, but you never know ._

**S-** _You threatening me?_

**R-** _Never_

Seth had gotten more comfortable at texting Roman too, he could understand when he was joking and he could do the same. He was laughing when he received the last text and couldn’t decided if they were still joking or not. He decided to go for a serious text.

**S-** _Same here buddy_

Buddy? His attempt at keeping things light had made him feel like a 12 year old. Who even said buddy anymore? Maybe he didn’t have the hang of this like he thought.

**R-** _Good to know. So we’re buddies now?_

How could he respond to that? Was Roman mocking him? was he actually asking him? and more importantly where they buddies? friends? acquaintances? He decided to do what he did best and avoided the question. He walked to the kitchen and turned down the temperature on the thermostat. He decided to go for a light dinner and fixed himself a sandwich. Seth swore that Dean had a radar for food because just before Seth had finished he had appeared by the kitchen door asking for a sandwich for himself. Seth shook his head and sighed already taking the bread out of the bag for Dean’s sandwich. Dean smiled at him at said that next time it was his turn to make dinner, Seth glared at him because he knew that was just a formality, Dean didn’t even know how to make a sandwich. His phone vibrated again and he didn’t know whether to ignore it or not. He figured it could wait until he was done making his sandwiches and before he called Dean to come and get his sandwich, his phone chirped again. He sighed and Dean shot him a puzzled look to which he responded with an “I’m tired” that Dean either believed or didn’t particularly care for. He sat in the chair opposite Dean on the kitchen table and took his phone out of his pocket.

**R-** _Who even says buddies anymore? Right? So let me ask again: Are we like bros now?_

Seth laughed, thankful that Roman could turn his awkwardness around that easily without directly calling him out on it. Although the question remained.

“What’s so funny?” Dean asked around a mouthful.

“A text” Seth said simply.

**R-** _Now that sounded kind of douchey._

Seth laughed again.

“Come on share the joke I wanna laugh too” Dean said getting up from his seat and trying to get a hold on Seth’s phone. Seth quickly locked his phone and Dean sighed. “Whatever then” he said and resumed his eating.

**R-** _Did you fall asleep? I gotta get to work text you later buddy ;)_

Seth looked at his screen trying to figure out if he should text back or not. He remembered the night of the fight, right before he had gone to the bathroom when Roman was dancing and he had winked at him, or so he thought. Because really Roman could’ve been looking at anyone, there were a lot of people there that night. Also maybe he hadn’t recognized Seth with all the darkness around. These were the things that Seth thought so that he didn’t have to think about why Roman would wink at him. The topic hadn’t come up in any of their texts, and Seth was definitely not going to bring it up so he decided to forget about it. Until now. Now that Roman had mention going to work. He put his phone down and stared at his food for a couple of minutes thinking about it until Dean spoke up.

“You’re scaring me” He heard Dean saying. Seth looked up from his plate to find Dean looking at him with a half amused half concerned expression on his face.

“Why?” He asked, confused. He watched as Dean finished his sandwich and juice; looking down at his own sandwich that had only two bites, and then at his full glass of juice.

“For starters you were laughing and blushing” Dean stated and Seth looked up at him again, eyes wide and no doubt cheeks blushing even more. Dean was now wearing a full on amused expression and Seth glared at him. Dean gave him a small laugh and continued. “Yeah, and then you went quiet and you’re not even eating”

“It’s nothing” Seth assured him shoving his phone in his pocket and picking up his sandwich.

“It don’t look like nothing to me” Dean pointed out and Seth gave him an exasperated look. “Just trying to help man” Dean said getting up and taking his plate and glass to the sink, he washed his hands and turned around to face Seth, reclining on it. “Are you like seeing someone?”

The question felt weird and foreign and all Seth thought to do was laugh. He almost choked on his food and there were tears on his eyes because of how hard he was laughing. Dean looked at him like he had lost his mind, and then raised his eyebrow, clearly waiting for an answer.

“Who would I be seeing? Besides we haven’t left the house in almost two weeks dude” He replied and laughed a little more.

“Well you have been texting someone a lot lately, and I would bet you _anything_ that is the same person you were texting just now. You get all…” He made a gesture with his hands, more like flailed them around “... _giddy_ and blush and laugh and I don’t know man I’ve never seen you like that”

What. _What?_ Seth felt confused and a different kind of giddy. Dean had noticed stuff that Seth didn’t even know he was doing. He didn’t even realized any of it. Dean was always observant but Seth liked to think that he was too. Maybe he was but not with himself? And why did it have to mean that he was seeing someone? Couldn’t one get… giddy with his friends? And there it was again. Was he even friends with Roman? Texting friends? Where those real? He had heard about people making friends online, this was like that right?

“Are you like, thinking if you are in a relationship?" Damn Dean and his power to read people so well, or at least to read Seth so well.

“What? I’m just trying to remember when I did any of that!” Denial seemed like the best course of action right now. If he was lucky maybe Dean could let it go. Lately he wasn’t having much luck though.

****  
  


“Like I said anytime you text, whoever it is that you text. Who do you text?” Dean asked stepping away from the sink and sitting down in front of him again. Seth tried to focused on finishing his sandwich, not wanting to continue with the conversation. It felt weird, not telling Dean something; they had always told each other everything and he didn’t even know why he wasn’t telling Dean about texting Roman. There wasn’t anything wrong with it. Maybe they were friends after all, and Seth liked texting his friends. But Seth knew that telling Dean it was Roman who was texting him would open up a whole other can of worms that he wasn’t sure he was prepared to open.

“I met this girl on facebook” He said simply, getting up and taking his plate and glass with him. He was 75% sure that Dean didn’t believe him. He confirmed it when he turned around and saw the look on Dean’s face. Thankfully Dean didn’t say anything else but a “Good night” and left Seth in the kitchen. He sighed and felt really bad for not telling Dean the truth. He wasn’t even sure why he was lying.

The next morning Seth started with his morning runs again. When he got back he decided to start reading that book that he had bought and never started for one thing or another. After a quick shower and several glasses of water later, he sat down on the living room couch and started reading. Dean woke up around 12 pm when Seth was already on chapter 10 near the halfway point of the book. He decided to put the book down when he heard Dean come down the stairs, no doubt his brother was going to ask him to make something to eat, Seth himself felt a little hungry as he had only had a small breakfast. To his surprise Dean didn’t even acknowledge him, walking right into the kitchen. Seth thought that maybe Dean hadn’t seen him and followed him into the kitchen, but he was proven wrong when Dean gave him a dirty look and reached for the cereal on top of the fridge.

“Are you mad at me?” Seth asked in confusion.

“You are lying to me and I don’t even know why” Dean’s answer made Seth look away from him, out of the window and as if things couldn’t get more awkward his phone decided to chirped right then and there. Damn Roman, he thought. Dean scoffed and he looked like he was about to comment on it when his phone chirped too. Dean took it from the table and Seth took that as his opportunity to take his own phone out of his pocket.

**R-** _So Jimmy and Jey want to know if you want to come to their house today. They’re inviting your other friends and Dean too, to play some videogames and watch some movies. You can also stay the night if you want._

Seth wondered if Dean had got the exact same message, or if his was worded differently. His phone buzzed in his hand, and then again almost immediately.

**R-** _What do you say?_

**R-** _Buddy? :P_

He didn’t know whether he should laugh or be mad, and in the end he smiled and heard Dean make a noise. If Roman had texted Dean there was no doubt that he would know it had been Roman texting him for the past week and a half, but if he hadn't Seth still had to tell Dean that it had been Roman who just texted him, right? What if Jimmy or Jey had told Dean that Roman was going to text Seth? He typed his response as quickly as he could

**S-** _Sounds like fun. You’re not gonna let me live that one down are you?_

“Are you gonna tell me who texted you? or was it you mistery friend?” Dean asked him. Seth wasn’t sure on what to tell him. His phone chirped again and Dean muttered something that sounded a lot like ‘for fucks sake’ before taking the milk out of the fridge.

“Are you gonna tell me who texted _you_?” Seth countered, and the look on Dean’s eyes screamed murder to him. When Dean got mad it was bad, but it was especially bad when he had just woken up and was hungry, still Seth didn’t back down.

“It was Jimmy, inviting me to his house today. Said Roman was going to…” Seth saw with wide eyes the moment realization settled on Dean’s face. Shit. That was it, there was no way he didn’t put it together by then. He decided to avoid Dean’s wondering look and opened his messages to read the last one he got.

**R-** _**I** f it bothers you I can stop it_

Damn Roman and his concerned self, Seth could practically feel himself blushing. He typed a response and deleted it, typed it again and then settled for changing the subject:

**S-** _I was half joking, are you gonna be there?_

“You have been texting Roman? for how long?” Dean asked coming out of his musings. He looked confused and a little hurt, but mostly just confused. Thankfully he didn’t look too mad.

“Since he gave me his number?” Seth decided that lying wasn’t going to make things any better. Besides he didn’t like lying to Dean, it felt odd and wrong.

“Wait so… are guys…” He didn’t finished the sentence and it was Seth’s turn to look confused.

“We’re just friends, Dean” He said, and he wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince Dean or himself. “Why would you eve…?” His phone buzzed again.

**R-** _I’ll stop then. And I am at their house right now, but won’t be here for long. Got some stuff to do._

“I thought you were texting someone you liked because of your reactions to the texts” Dean admits and Seth doesn’t know what to say. He didn’t even know if there was something there. He couldn’t deny that Roman was attractive. At first he didn’t want to think about him, but how do you not think about someone that saved your life? More than once? And once he got to know a little bit more about Roman he decided that he really wanted to be his friend. Even though they hadn’t shared a lot of personal info, Roman had texted him about his likes and dislikes in movies and music and other stuff. And he was so cool, and helped Seth even when he didn’t have to. _So what does that even mean?_ Seth thought.

“So are we going?” Dean asked. Seth was thankful for the change of subject and nodded at him.

“Ok. I’m gonna change then” Dean said walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs with his bowl of cereal in his hands.

After texting his mom that htey were going to spend the night at Jimmy's Seth and Dean got out of the house. Seth should’ve known that Dean wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. Once they got in the car and Seth drove away Dean started questioning him.

“So, do you like Roman?” Seth didn’t know how to answer that question so he acted like he didn’t know exactly what Dean was asking.

“Yeah, he’s cool” He answered and Dean smacked him in the back of his head.

“Dude! What was that for?” He said, trying not to get too distracted from the road; even though he really wanted to return the smack.

“You know what I mean!” Dean answered clearly annoyed.

“He’s a guy” Seth said, as if that was a good answer.

“No shit” Dean said shaking his head “So what? You’re gonna tell me you don’t like him because he’s a guy? Have you actually seen him? He’s hot Seth, really hot”

“So _you like him_?” Seth countered, subconsciously gripping the steering wheel a little bit tighter.

“Anyone who has seen Roman likes him. Is like a universal truth or something” Dean answered smirking. Seth turned to look at him, trying to see what was exactly on Dean’s mind.

“I like him as a friend.” He said and Dean snorted. Seth concentrated on the road. Trying to not think about the fact that Dean had already kissed Roman once. _Maybe Dean likes Roman and wants something more with him_ , Seth thought and noticed how his knuckles were turning white because of how tight he was gripping the steering wheel.

Dean must had noticed too because he said “I don’t think Roman’s the kind of guy to have one night stands. At least he doesn’t look like that kind of guy” Seth looked at him confused and Dean smiled at him “I am not interested in dating him, Seth.” Seth looked back to the street, he could already see the gates to the twins mansion. Dean continued “This is my way of telling you that I do not like him that way and that it would be perfectly ok if you did”

“Why thanks for the permit, but I don’t like him that way” Seth said stubbornly and Dean sighed.

“If you think you don’t like him… no, if you’re telling yourself that you don’t like him because he’s a guy then you need to stop because there’s nothing wrong with liking a guy” Dean told him, his tone was serious and Seth honestly didn’t know how to answer that. He knew it was true, and he wasn’t opposed to people of the same sex dating. So why couldn’t he admit that maybe he was a little bit attracted to Roman?

“I’m telling you” Dean continued when Seth stayed silent “If you like pussy it’s fine. If you like dick it’s ok. If you like both it’s freaking perfect. Seth just don’t make a big deal about it.”

Seth kept being quiet. Once they reached the house he got out and rang the bell on the wall next to the gate. Jimmy asked who it was and after Seth answered the gates opened. Seth got back in the car and drove inside.

“Easy for you to say Dean” Seth said and it took a moment for Dean to understand what he was saying.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked.

“I mean you’ve gone out with guys and girls, but I’ve never dated anyone” Seth replied.

“Yeah, so? Liking someone and going out with someone is two different things. You don’t have to go out with someone to know if you like them or not, whether if it’s a guy or a girl it doesn’t matter”

“Maybe, but still I’ve never liked anyone other than Nikki so… Look it doesn’t matter. I don’t like him that way ok?” Seth said parking the car and turning the engine off. He was being stubborn and he knew it, but he didn’t care.

“Fine! Whatever you say” Dean said getting out of the car. Seth followed him.

They knocked on the door and Jimmy opened.

“What’s up Seth? Dean?” He said in his usual friendly manner. Seth smiled and said “Hi Jimmy?” He couldn’t really tell them apart yet; Jimmy and Jey were not identical twins, but they did look a lot alike, plus Seth had only known them for a few weeks.

“Yeah I’m Jimmy” He said laughing. After Dean said “How’s it going?” and they started following Jimmy into the house.

“Not much, you’re the first ones to get here” Jimmy answered followed by a “Well Roman’s here too as well as my girl and Jey’s girl, but they’re almost always here” He laughed at that and both Dean and Seth laughed too. They were near the kitchen when Jimmy said “Anyway we’re making pizzas”

Outside was Jey and his girlfriend sitting on two high chairs in front of the kitchen island. Seth still couldn’t believe the place, having two kitchens and a pizza oven it still blew his mind. Roman was standing opposite to them wearing an apron, his long dark hair was in a tight bun on the back of his head, and in front of him he had several containers and baking pans. As they stepped closer Seth noticed that he was working on the pizza dough. They all said hi to each other. Dean decided to sit beside Jey on another high chair while Jimmy stayed beside Roman, helping him with the food. Seth stood at the end of the island beside Dean.

They fell into an easy chatter and about five minutes later Roman asked Seth if he wanted to help with the pizza. He remembered the text Roman had sent him the night Seth asked him about pizza; he was going to bring it up, but with Dean next to him and Roman in front of him, he found it difficult to speak once again. He nodded with a small smile and went around to stand beside Roman. Roman handed him a baking pan with pizza dough, sauce and cheese already on it.

“These are the toppings” Jimmy said to him, pointing to the containers on the island “Choose whatever you want”

Seth decided to make a veggie pizza. He turned to the sink and washed his hands before starting. He grabbed some spinach first, then put some mushrooms on top. He extended his hand to grab some bell peppers when Roman did the same, their hands brushed and Seth moved his immediately causing Roman to chuckle at him. Seth knew he was blushing and looked away. He looked up at Dean and noticed that he was watching them closely with an amused expression. Seth shot him a glare that only made Dean laugh. Roman, Jimmy, Jey and Layla (Jey’s girlfriend) seemed to not noticed this and Seth was thankful for it. He ignored Dean and continued making his pizza.

Naomi came dancing out of the Kitchen saying: “Hey hey hey!”

“Hi Naomi” Seth said to her.

“What’s up?” Dean asked.

“Please call me Nae” She told them coming to stand beside Jimmy.

Roman looked up from the pizza he was making. He looked around and then at Naomi.

“Where is she?” He asked her. Naomi looked behind her, clearly confused.

“I swear she was right behind me” She said. Roman looked to the kitchen door as if waiting for… whoever he was waiting for to appear. He exchanged a confused look with Dean who only shrugged.

“Oh, there she comes!” Naomi, who had walked over to the kitchen door, said.

Seth turned to the door then. A little girl who looked to be around six years old came skipping out. She had on a pink dress, and her hair was put into two braids. She stopped right in front of Roman who was now looking at her.

“Daddy is my pizza ready?” She asked him and he bent down to pick her up.

“Almost” He said and she made a face. Then she looked around, her eyes settling on Seth and Dean.

“Who are they?” She asked pointing at them.

Seth was shocked to say the least. The little girl had called Roman daddy. Roman had a _daughter_? He was now staring at them, at Roman with the girl in his arms. It was a weird sight, but at the same time it wasn’t. Seth would never had guessed that Roman had a child, but looking at them right there in front of him, he thought that he look good… and wasn’t that something weird to think about? Seth thought that Roman looked good as a father. Yeah definitely weird.

“My name is Dean. What’s yours?” Dean’s question brought Seth out of his thoughts and he added “and I’m Seth” he hoped his voice was loud enough for her to hear, but he wasn’t sure about it.

“My name is Joelle, but everyone calls me Jojo” She said smiling at them “Nice to meet you” She added. She turned to look at Roman then “When is the pizza going to be ready?” She said, clearly impatient. Roman laughed and shook his head at her. Everyone else smiled too, amused by the girls antics. After that they went back to talking between each other.

“I said it was almost ready didn’t I? You’ve gotta be a little patient princess” She huffed and made another face. Seth couldn’t stop looking at them. In that moment all he could think about was the fact that he found Roman’s interaction with his daughter to be cute. He thought that was cute? Wasn’t that weird? Could twenty something year old men be cute? Seth felt something hitting him on the side of his head and turned around; Dean had thrown something at him and had a look on his face that Seth did not understand, he was about to look back at Roman when Dean got up and pulled him aside.

“Dude” He whispered “You’re staring” and then he added a little louder “Can you make me a pizza too?” Seth furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and Dean sighed. Then there was a beeping going on and what sounded like the door bell.

“Your turn!” Jimmy yelled looking at Jey, who laughed at him and hopped off his seat.

Roman put Joelle down and said “You hear that? That was the bell from here” He picked something up from the counter next to the sink and Seth saw that it was the source of the beeping, it was an oven timer and Roman continued “It means the pizza is ready”. Joelle smiled and Roman went over to the pizza oven. Once he settled the pizza on the kitchen island he took another pizza and put it in, setting the timer on the counter and turning it on again. Jey walked out with Randy, Dolph and Lana behind him. They all said hi; Lana sat down on one of the high chairs and Dolph stood behind her; Randy decided to go around and stand behind Dean. Seth looked down at his forgotten pizza and finished it up, setting that aside he looked around to see if he could start on another, but all he found was a bowl with dough in it. Seth definitely didn’t know how to toss it so he stepped back. Roman was now cutting the pizza he had gotten out of the oven, and Jimmy put some plates beside the pizza.

“I’ll serve this Roman, why don’t you toss some more dough” Jimmy told him.

Roman smiled at Jimmy and replied “Why don’t you toss it?” Jimmy shot him a dirty look and they all laughed.

“You want me to ruin it?” Jimmy said  as he pushed Roman aside. Roman laughed some more, but moved and took the dough from the bowl. Seth was still standing there and watched closely as Roman tossed the pizza, clearly amazed at how easy it looked.

“Is that really hard to do?” Randy asked Roman.

“At first yeah, but once you get the hang of it it’s really easy. Wanna try?” He replied.

“I don’t wanna ruin it” Randy answered and Jimmy threw a small piece of dough at him.

After making some more pizzas they all went to the lounge in front of the pool and sat down to eat it. Seth sat on a couch next to Dean unintentionally sitting in front of Roman and his daughter. At least it was unintentional on his end, but he wasn’t so sure about Dean’s. It was all really calm and in about twenty minutes the rest of his friends got there. Cody and Ted had gotten there first and then Nikki had called and asked Jimmy and Jey if she could bring John, they had agreed and she thanked them promising to get there with dessert for everyone. After Nikki, John, Brie and Daniel got there they finished their food and decided to go inside to start playing some video games. Roman said that he was going to clean the table where they had eaten and Dean almost screamed that Seth was going to help him; Seth remembered that this was exactly why he hadn’t tell Dean about Roman in the first place, it was Dean’s life mission to get Seth laid; Seth had elbowed him in the ribs, but said that he would help anyway.

That left Seth and Roman alone outside clearing the table quietly. Honestly Seth didn’t know why he had agreed, even after Roman told him that he didn’t have to, still he stayed and help. They took the plates to the kitchen. Roman told him that he could go on and join the others while he washed the dishes, but Seth managed to tell him that he would help with that too. They were doing the dishes in silence, Roman washed while Seth rinsed and it was going ok. He felt comfortable enough just standing there, next to Roman, he felt a strange sense of peace.

“Can I ask you a question?” Roman asked, breaking the silence.

“Sure” Seth answered.

“It may sound weird” Roman said chuckling. “Or rude” He added.

“Okay?” Seth said furrowing his eyebrows.

“Why is it that you can like text me and stuff, but when we see each other you barely talk to me?”

And there it was. Seth knew this day was going to come sooner or later. He had thought that he could talk to Roman more freely now that they had been texting. But standing there beside him he didn’t know how to. It was as if he had forgotten how to form words, and even if he could talk, he didn’t know how to explain his situation.

“Umm… well…” He tried to speak and he almost dropped the plate he was rinsing. Roman helped him with it and put it in its place. Seth just wanted to bury his face in the earth, he wanted a whole to open up and swallow him whole. Of course nothing like that happen and he was left standing there beside Roman, looking at the ground because he was sure he was blushing furiously.

“You know what?” Roman said and Seth made himself look up at him. He was smiling softly and Seth felt his stomach do something weird. “You don’t have to answer. I’m sorry I asked, told you it was rude.”

Seth had never met anyone like Roman, he could be blunt but he could also see that his question had made Seth uncomfortable and he had taken it back. Seth was amazed by him to say the least, and he was going to say something like ‘don’t be sorry’ but he couldn’t talk; he opened his mouth but no words came, he closed it and thought of what to say when Roman’s daughter came running into the kitchen. Seth took a step back to give them a little space, she made a gesture with her hands for him to pick her up, he did so and Seth had to turn around. He was smiling stupidly at how cute Roman looked. Cute? he thought Roman was cute? No no no no, he couldn’t believe he had thought that. He busied himself with the rest of the plates.

“Daddy when are we going to get mommy from work? Seth heard Joelle ask.

He froze on the spot. He had been too occupied thinking about how endearing it was that Roman had a daughter and how cute she was, and how cute _he_ was that he hadn’t even thought about the little girl’s mom. But of course someone like Roman was going to be married to his child’s mother, why wouldn’t he? He clearly seemed like that kind of guy. Seth could only picture them standing together, holding Joelle; she had to be beautiful of course and they would make the cutest family ever, and Seth just felt disappointed, and he couldn’t really deal with the realizations that he was having right there with Roman and his daughter talking about her mom.  Seth excused himself from the kitchen without even a glance back at them; he practically ran to the living room. He knew that he didn't have a right to be mad at Roman, he couldn't be feeling disappointed because he and Roman were just friends. He didn't have the right to feel _jealous_ , but that didn't stop him.

He took a couple of deep breaths before opening the double doors to the living room. Inside he found everyone pretty much consumed by the game they were playing: Mario Kart. Right in front of the big flat screen were Dean, Randy, Jimmy and Jey. They were sitting on the biggest couch in the room, a big navy blue leather couch. On the left side there was a black couch were Layla, Lana, Naomi and Dolph were sitting, and on the right side there was a smaller black couch with Brie, Daniel, Nikki and John on it. Cody and Ted were sitting on the floor in front of the blue couch. No one noticed Seth entering the room and he was grateful for it. He looked around and found an armchair in the corner of the room, next to the bookshelf. He flopped down on it and tried to distract himself by paying attention to the game. It didn't work and soon his mind was racing with all thoughts of Roman leaving to go see his wife. But Seth didn't know if it was his wife; Roman could be separated from her and still have a civil relationship with her. Somehow Seth doubted that, if he had gotten something out of Roman's texts was that family meant a lot to him, or maybe he just wanted to think of Roman as unavailable because the mere thought of him being married had made him realized that maybe he was a little attracted to him. Or very attracted to him. And Roman was just so out of his league. So totally out of his league. Roman was very hot, and he cared about people and family, and he was a great cook, and he was cool and just so many things. And Seth, well, Seth had made a fool out of himself in front of Roman on more than one occasion and how could Roman possibly like him after all that? Seth wasn't even sure why Roman still talked to him. He sighed heavily and almost jumped when Jimmy shouted excitedly.

"I win suckers!" He announced jumping up and down "Didn't I tell ya I was going to win? Didn't I?" He asked everyone, laughing. Naomi got up from her seat and kissed him sweetly

"Yes you did baby" she said with a proud smile on her face.

"We should have a punishment for the loser" Jimmy said as Jey got up from the couch.

"No no no" Jey said to him "You said nothing about rewards or punishments man" They all laughed at Jey's expense and he made a face at them.

"Alright, alright" Jimmy said and then added "The next loser gets punished then?"

"Only if Jey does too" Cody replied and they laughed again.

Seth wanted to join in on the fun, but as he got up from the armchair Roman walked in the room with his daughter in his arms and what looked like his keys in one of his hands. Jimmy saw him and walked to him, and Seth sat back on the chair sighing.

"Yo Roman you leavin'?" Jimmy asked.

"We're going to get mommy" Joelle answered smiling.

"Yeah, and then I'm going to my parents house" Roman replied.

"Alright, then" Jimmy said and then he added "You're coming tomorrow morning right? You gotta make us breakfast man" He smiled patting Roman's shoulder.

"Jimmy how many times do I have to tell you, I am not your personal chef" Roman replied shaking his head at Jimmy, clearly amused.

 

"I'm telling you, you already are!" Jimmy said and Roman just kept shaking his head.

"Yeah I guess I can come tomorrow morning, but I'm only making breakfast for whoever gets up before I leave" He said.

"At what time are you going to get here?" Jey asked coming to stand besides Jimmy in front of Roman.

"I don't know. Eight?" He said smiling.

"That's way too early Roman" Naomi said from her spot on the couch, several noises of agreement followed. Roman just laughed at them. Despite his current state Seth found himself laughing along and it was as if everyone had just noticed him now. Seth noticed how Roman turned his head immediately at the sound, his eyes meeting Seth's briefly before Seth looked at the floor; his laughter had stopped too.

"When did you get in?" Dean asked and Seth just shrugged.

"Daddy! Let's go!" Joelle asked impatiently. Roman smiled at her.

"So I'll see you all tomorrow" Roman said already retreating "At nine" he added with a smile.

"Still too early!" Naomi shouted at him, but he didn't replied back.

After Roman's departure they all resumed their gaming. Dean dragged Seth off the armchair and sat him beside him on the couch. The night came and they were all still playing. They decided that the punishment for the losers was that they had to go skinny dipping on the pool. The losers ended up being Jey, Brie, Ted, and Cody. In the end everyone had argued that they were not going to get naked so they decided to jump in the pool in their underwear. Soon everyone ended up in the pool anyway. Dean had pushed Randy in, who in turn, pulled him until he was in the pool too. Seth had time to actually strip to his underwear before getting in, unlike John and Daniel who were pushed in by Nikki. They were all laughing and having a good time, and Seth wasn't thinking about Roman. At least not so much that he couldn't enjoy himself. They spent at least an hour out in the pool before going inside. After drying themselves and putting their clothes back on the twins asked if they wanted to watch a movie. They used the time of deciding which movie to watch to make pop corn. In the end they decided to marathon the Fast and Furious movies.

"There's more than one?" Dean had asked and they had all laughed at that "I swear I didn't know" He said punching Randy on the shoulder for being the first one to laugh at him.

It turned out that the twins had their very own home theater. A big room with rows of seats that looked extremely comfortable and a big screen at the front. Once everyone was on their seats they started their marathon. After the third movie ended it was near 3 am and most of Seth's friends were falling asleep, so they called it a night. Jimmy showed everyone the several guest rooms they had. Brie, Nikki, John and Daniel stayed on one room with double beds while Dolph and Lana stayed on one with a single bed. Randy, Cody and Ted shared a room with double beds and a big red couch; Randy had ran to one of the beds leaving Ted and Cody to decided who got to sleep on the other one.

Dean and Seth settled on another room that had one bed and a sofa that transformed into a bed. After brushing his teeth Seth walked into the room to see Dean setting up the sofa.

"You're leaving the bed to me?" Seth asked in surprise and Dean smirked.

"Yeah why?" Dean responded.

 

"Just asking. I thought you were going to be asleep on it by the time I got back from the bathroom" Seth admits.

"If you want the couch that's fine by me" Dean said.

"Oh no, I'm totally taking the bed" Seth quickly added.

Once they were both laying on their respective beds Seth tried to sleep. He wasn't overly tired, but it was already 3:20 and he did feel sleepy. Still his mind was too awake; now that he didn't have any distractions he was left with his thoughts, and his thoughts were all about Roman. Now that he had admitted to himself that he really liked Roman, that was all he could think about. He rolled around on the bed grunting and sighing and he cursed himself for forgetting his iPod at home. He looked over at Dean who was laying on his back looking at the ceiling, in the dim light of the room he couldn't see if Dean was awake or asleep.

"I did notice you know?" Dean said suddenly.

"Notice what? Seth asked him.

"I noticed when you got into the living room. Noticed how much you were moping" Dean replied.

"I was so not moping" Seth said defensively, but he knew Dean could see right through him, even in the darkness.

"Sure you weren't" Dean said. Seth heard the rustling of the sheets and in the shadows he could see Dean was sitting up now, he sat up too, in the middle of the bed.

"I was not" He replied more to himself than to Dean.

"Is it because Roman has a daughter? or because he might be in a relationship?" Dean asked and Seth didn't want to respond. He turned around to lay back down, with his back to Dean.

"Good night Dean" He said and before he knew it Dean got up from the couch and turned the lights on. "Dude what the hell?" He asked. Dean sat down at the edge of the bed then.

"Stop this Seth." He said. Seth sat up again, he saw that Dean's expression was serious and he sighed.

"Stop what Dean?" He asked a little irritated.

"Stop pretending like you don't like him or that you don't care whether he's in a relationship or not." Dean said sounding a lot like his dad when he was trying to teach Seth something he couldn't quite understand. Before he could say something else Dean held up his hand and continued: "No, listen. You did this with Nikki too. You convinced yourself that she couldn't possibly like you back so you waited four years only to discover that you didn't like her anymore. You denied yourself any form of a love life because you were crushing on someone that was your friend because you were scared. I know I push you a lot about this stuff, but I don't want you to be afraid of this forever."

"I hate it when you get all wise and shit" Seth said after a moment.  "So what if I do like him? It doesn't change anything. In case you haven't noticed he's way out of my league. And he's probably married? and even if he's not he might not even be gay? No, scratch that. He's definitely not gay. He has a daughter, that means he had sex with a woman, so..."

"Did you even hear me? Besides bisexuality is a thing you know?" Dean noted.

"I know that, still out of my league." Seth repeated stubbornly.

"He obviously likes you." Dean said. Seth looked at him puzzled and Dean added "He's been texting you a lot, and I know he doesn't text any of our friends, not like he texts you anyway. He saved you at the pool, and helped you that night after the fight. I saw how you two were interacting today. Seth he obviously likes you" Dean said. He sounded so sure that Seth wanted to believe him.

"Did you ask him?" Seth questioned. Dean let out a sigh and shook his head. "Then you don't know." Seth said. Dean got up and turned the lights off going back to the sofa.

"Good night Seth" he said.

"Good night Dean" Seth replied.

****  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't be mad please lol you will all see how much better things get later on, also I don't know if I should make the next chapter in Roman's POV? Thoughts?


	9. Breakfast is on me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Roman got back to his apartment all he could think about was going to sleep. He wasn’t tired, at least not much, but he knew he needed to wake up early. Still once he got on his bed he didn’t fall asleep right away. He looked up at the ceiling and in that moment all he could think about was that he was going to get to see Seth once again the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG guys I'm sorry it took me this long to update. I have no excuses, seriously I was just procrastinating. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's written in Roman's POV and we get to know some of his back story yay! Also the chapter title is crappy sorry about that lol

Roman sat in the driver's seat of his car waiting for his daughter’s mom to get out of work. She had asked him if he could pick her up due to her car not working. Joelle sat in the backseat playing with a doll that she always carried everywhere she went. Roman was always grateful about the type of relationship he shared with Joelle’s mom; he knew of a lot of people who weren’t married that couldn’t even keep a civil relationship, not even for their kids, so he was glad that Galina and he were different. ****

Roman had met Galina at a party; they were more than wasted and ended up having a one night stand. Roman had felt terrible about it.  He didn’t want to hurt Galina; he didn’t even know her, but she was in the same high school as him so he knew she was a nice girl; hooking up with her had made him feel awful because he knew that was all they could have, and he didn’t know if she was ok with that. He had been trying to hook up with a girl in a feeble attempt at convincing himself that he wasn’t gay. He had known that he wasn’t like other boys since he was little, sure he loved sports and video games; he loved cars and action movies, but he had never liked any girls. At first he thought it was because he just hadn’t met “the one” but when he started junior year in high school and met a guy named Jeff that was on his biology class, he knew. He just knew that other guys didn’t look at Jeff the way he did; he convinced himself that the only way to know if he was gay was asking a girl out. He tried to do it, but he just couldn’t.

So one day at a party he decided to just hook up with some girl, thinking that doing so would work just as well. He started drinking to gain some courage, but soon found it was no use, he just had to live with the fact that he was indeed gay; not that he found that to be a bad thing, but he just didn’t know how his family was going to react to that. He kept drinking and lost track of time and even lost track of what he was doing. Part of him wanted to blame the alcohol for what had happened, but he knew he wasn’t as drunk as he thought if he had been able to have sex; truth was it was his first time and he didn’t know what the hell he was doing, but he was so adamant on proving to himself that he wasn’t gay that he didn’t really care. When he woke up the next morning with the sheets tangled around his ankles and a naked girl draped over him he knew he had screwed up. He sat up immediately, taking in his surroundings, knowing it was not his house or anyone’s house that he recognized. He searched for his clothes finding them on the floor at the end of the bed. He found his phone in the pocket of his jeans and saw that it was 11 am. He had several missed calls and unread messages, some were from his mom, and the others from his friends. He dressed quickly and realized he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want Galina to think he was playing with her, but then again they didn’t even know each other, what if she only wanted a one night stand? They were both drunk the night before and clearly didn’t make the best decisions. He sighed still unsure of what to do when he heard mumbling. She had woken up and was currently sitting on the bed clearly trying to make sense of things when she looked at Roman standing there her eyes grew wide and she quickly covered herself with the bed sheets. Roman didn’t know what to do or say, but she seemed to remember what had happened quickly. To Roman’s surprise, she said good morning and went through a door that Roman guessed was the bathroom. He was still standing there debating whether or not he should just leave when she came back out wearing a t shirt and some pajama shorts. He was dumbfounded, to say the least, but she seemed to not really care that he was still there.

 

“Are you hungry?” She asked in a casual way making her way out of the room. He followed her without knowing what else to do when they passed the living room she groaned and he saw all of the trash that remained from the party. So this was her house and she’s the one that threw the party, Roman thought. Once they reach the kitchen she started making breakfast, he offered to help her for lack of having anything else to do. Once they were sitting at the kitchen table eating eggs and bacon she told him that her parents were out for the weekend and that she had never thrown a party before, but now she was regretting it.

“Not because of you!” She rushed to say, and Roman wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

“I mean” she continued “I don’t even know you, but I’ve seen you around and you look like a cool guy. Plus people at school say you’re nice and whatnot. Never thought you’d be a one-night-stand kind of guy, but hey what do I know right?”

He didn’t know how to tell her that he wasn’t or that it had been his first time. He felt weird and embarrassed and he just wanted to get out of her house. He also felt guilty, he felt like he had used Galina in an effort to prove to himself that he wasn’t gay, an effort that was useless at the end. Truth be told he didn’t even know why he was trying to deny that he was gay; maybe it was because he thought his parents wouldn’t approve of him liking guys, or because he was afraid of what other people might think.

“Unless you aren’t which would be cool too, but I don’t date so… sorry to burst your bubble” He still didn’t know what to say. They stayed silent for another moment and then she sighed “Look is not like you’re the first guy that I sleep with, and you’re not my first one night stand either so it’s all good, but if you were planning on asking me out then I can’t do that and I hope you understand” He found it strange for her to act that way. They didn’t even know each other and she was acting as if what had happened was not a big deal. Maybe it wasn’t and he was just over reacting, still he felt the need to tell her why he had done it, he thought he at least owed her that much.

“I think I’m gay” He blurted out, she studied him closely and then bursted out laughing. He got up to leave then, this was not the kind of response he wanted from people, maybe that was why he didn’t want to admit that he was gay. He was almost at the door when she caught up to him, wiping tears from her eyes and still smiling.

“I’m so sorry, oh god you weren’t kidding” She quickly apologized “Look that was so unexpected, come on let’s go finish breakfast and we can talk ok?” She said and Roman followed.

It was a long weird conversation in which both of them apologized to the other about a dozen times. In the end they decided that maybe they could be friends and she assured him that talking to his parents was a good idea, that things like this couldn’t stay hidden for long.  
 **  
**

It turned out that she was right. Roman told his parents about his preferences two days after the party. They were both shocked to say the least, but they were surprisingly understanding, and Roman scolded himself for thinking that his parents would ever think less of him for something like that.

The next couple of weeks went by quickly. His graduation from High School was around the corner and he couldn’t wait for it. He wasn’t really excited for college, but he had made a deal with his dad. His dad was a lawyer and had made a big name for himself; the firm in which he worked was a family company and he wanted Roman to join, but Roman had told him over and over again that he didn’t want that, so they made a deal in which Roman was going to at least get another degree at college.

 ****A couple of days before graduation he got a call from Galina, asking him to come to her house; he thought she sounded a bit weird on the phone, and asked her what was going on, but she just asked him to please meet her there. Once he got to her house he knocked on the door and was greeted by Galina’s mom. Everything that went down after was practically a blur for Roman. Galina’s parents were very tense and he could tell her dad was mad. He was clearly confused and after a few tense moments Galina spoke up. She was pregnant and was sure that Roman was the father. He flopped on one of the living room sofas quite dramatically then. He didn’t even know how to react to that; it was so surreal to him. His only reaction was to say “Wait what?” in a voice way too high which caused Galina to laugh, her parents shoot her disapproving looks so she quickly stopped. After a long talk with Galina and her parents the next logical step was to talk to his parents; which was so much easier said than done. He had just come out to them, what were they going to say now? How was he going to explain the situation? Both of Galina’s parents asked him if they could come with him to talk to his parents because they had to talk to them as well. He was nervous as hell, so he really appreciated the company. Truth was he didn’t even know what he was going to do, what they both were going to do. As they all talked things over it seemed to him that the ‘adults’ were trying to handle things as if neither him or Galina were even in the same room; he didn’t like that at all but kept quiet thinking things over just trying to make sense of it all; however, as soon as they heard the word marriage they both got up and held their ground. Roman knew that Galina didn’t want a relationship, and he was gay so of course that wouldn’t work out. One thing was clear though: she was keeping the baby. At the end they decided that once the baby was born they were going to share custody; Roman agreed and assured Galina and her parents that he was going to be there for her and the baby every step of the way.  
 ****

In the end things had worked out for the best. Galina was one of his best friends, and his daughter was everything to him. He was happy even if he was single and working at the club; he had great friends, and an awesome family.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when Galina got into the car.

“Did I make you guys wait?” She asked buckling her seatbelt.

“Just a little” Joelle answered from the backseat smiling at her mom.

“So, to your house?” Roman asked her and she said yes.

“So what did you guys do today?” She asked them.

“Daddy made pizza!” Joelle said excitedly. “I ate 4 slices” She added while raising 4 fingers in the air.

“That is awesome baby” Galina replied. She smiled and then added “Did you bring me some?”

Joelle shook her head and said “There wasn’t any left mommy”

“How come?” She asked

“Because there was a lot of people there” The little girl replied. She went back to playing with her doll and Galina turned her attention to Roman.

“What does she mean?” She asked him.

“Jimmy and Jey had some guests over yesterday” He answered. “You know those guys I told you about?” He added.

“The ones you met at the pool?” She asked with a questioning look.

“Yes. That’s what she means” Roman replied.

The rest of the way to Galina’s house was silent except for the music coming from the radio. Galina seemed to be thinking about something and once they reached her house she asked:

“Does that mean that Seth was there too?” There was amusement in her voice and a smile on her face when Roman looked at her.

Roman and Galina were very good friends, and he told her a lot of things. One of those things was how much he liked Seth. After meeting Seth for the first time at the waterpark Roman had a hard time taking him out of his mind. He wasn’t sure what was it about Seth that he liked. It could be that he was always so shy around him; or how he seemed to blush every now and then; or the way his hair looked half black and half blonde; or his smile, or his big brown eyes or… Well maybe he did know why he liked Seth, what he didn’t know was if Seth liked him. Sure they texted a lot and he was sure Seth liked him as a friend, but he didn’t know if Seth was gay, or bisexual, or in any way interested in a relationship with a guy period.

He shot Galina an annoyed look and said “Yes he was there” through his teeth. She laughed out loud and patted his shoulder.

“Did anything happen?” She asked him raising an eyebrow.

“I braided Nikki’s hair!” Joelle piped in from the back seat causing both Roman and Galina to laugh.

“Who’s Nikki?” Galina asked.

“She’s one of the people that were at uncle Jimmy’s house” Joelle replied “She and Brie are twins! like uncle Jimmy and uncle Jey!” She added enthusiastically.

“Yeah and Jimmy practically ordered me to go tomorrow morning and make them breakfast” Roman added. “So I was thinking maybe you’d like to come? Naomi said she hasn’t seen you in ages!” He said to Galina.

“She saw me last week” She said laughing. “But sure I’ll go, that way I’ll finally meet Seth” She added still laughing and wiggling her eyebrows at him.

“You know maybe you shouldn’t go” Roman said smiling at her. He knew she was always teasing him about this kind of stuff.

“I’ll behave I promise” She said putting her hands up, as a sign of her backing up. “I won’t even say how much you like him, not even once” She said and made a sign like she was zipping her lips shut.

“You better not saying anything like that” He told her, and then added “So I’ll pick you up at around eight forty?”

 ****She nodded and opened her door, stepping out of the car. Roman proceeded to step out and unbuckle Joelle from her seat. Once they said their goodbyes  Roman was on the road again. He went to his parents house for a while before he had to go to work. He visited his parents as often as he could. After dropping by their house he went to his apartment and got ready for work. Working at the club meant he went to sleep at around 4am or 3am if he was lucky which made it difficult for him to wake up early the next morning, but he knew he could pull it off.  
 ****

Once he got to the club and changed into his work clothes he waited for the club to open. It was probably going to be a slow night, Thursdays were always kind of slow, even on summer break. He was standing in front of the bar when one of his co-workers and friend, Summer, approached him. Summer had started working at the club around the same time as Roman. She was always smiling and they had become friends really quick. In fact Roman loved making friends, so pretty much all of his co-workers were his friends too.

“Hey, you’re here early” She said to him once she reached him.

“You too, what gives?” He asked.

“I was hoping on asking Mark for a raise” She answered. Mark was their boss. He seemed like the kind of person who could crush you with one hand, and Roman was sure he actually could, but he was a very nice person too.

“Ah, how did that go?” Roman asked.

“He’s not here yet, Jerry’s in his office. Says Mark’s running late” She replied. Jerry was Mark’s right hand, and always helped him when needed. He was their manager too.

 ****They continued talking for a bit while the rest of his co-workers got there. Soon the doors opened and he got to work. As he suspected it was a slow night. He was at the bar serving drinks all night, and around 2:45am they closed. He was grateful for the few extra minutes of sleep he could get. When Roman got back to his apartment all he could think about was going to sleep. He wasn’t tired, at least not much, but he knew he needed to wake up early. Still once he got on his bed he didn’t fall asleep right away. He looked up at the ceiling and in that moment all he could think about was that he was going to get to see Seth once again the next morning. He puts his hands below his head and smiled at the ceiling. He wondered if Seth was already asleep, or if they were all still up. He took his phone from his nightstand and looked at the time. It read 3:20am he put it down and opted for not texting Seth. He didn’t want to wake him up in case he was asleep. He figured he should just go to sleep anyway. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, still thinking about Seth.  
  
 ****

The following morning Roman woke up as soon as his alarm went off. He was feeling really excited about seeing Seth again and it made him feel weird, not in a bad way, but in a ‘this attraction is turning into something more quite fast’ kind of way. He showered and changed into some jeans and a black t shirt. He drove to Galina’s house and once both Galina and Joelle were in the car he drove to his cousins’ house. He opened the door to the house and saw Naomi walking to the kitchen, he called her name and she turned around. Naomi practically jumped on Galina and hugged her really tight.

“Seriously Nae, you saw me last week” Galina said once she let go of her. Naomi just laughed and kept a hand around Galina’s shoulder. She said hi to Roman and Joelle; Jimmy and Jey came down from upstairs then.

“How’s it going uce?” Jimmy greeted him.

“I’m surprised to see you guys already up” Roman said.

“Yeah well I don’t even think they went to sleep” Naomi said.

 ******  
**

They all laughed as they made their way to the kitchen. Roman noticed that Naomi, Jimmy and Jey were the only ones downstairs, and possibly the only ones awake. He set up the things he had brought on the kitchen island, and started taking out the utensils he needed right away. He was going to make pancakes and omelettes. Galina started to cut some fruit while Jimmy started to fry some bacon and sausage. Naomi was playing with Joelle while Jey was just standing in front of the kitchen island. They fell into an easy chatter and, to Roman’s surprise, their new friends started to come downstairs. He introduced Galina to them and they kept on talking. Soon the kitchen was full, everyone seemed to be awake now; everyone except for Seth and Dean. Roman couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed in that; he thought that after all he might not have a chance to see Seth after all. He had stuff to do with his dad, so he had only gone to his cousins house to make breakfast. Dean came downstairs first and when Roman asked him about Seth he smiled at him and said that he was brushing his teeth, he also winked at him and Roman didn’t know what that was about, but he didn’t ask. He just stared at him for a little longer, but Dean only smiled wider at him. Seth came into the kitchen almost immediately after Dean. His hair was a bit of a mess and he was rubbing his eyes as if he had just gotten up, even though Dean had said that he was brushing his teeth. He said goodmorning to everyone at the same time and when Roman said good morning back he locked eyes with him. To Roman he seemed a bit surprised and he blushed, Roman couldn’t help but smile at him. Galina, who was standing beside Roman, elbowed him on the ribs and when he looked at her she was snickering. Roman noticed how Dean and Seth were looking at her curiously and remembered that he hadn’t introduced them yet. He was about to do so when she did it herself.

“Good morning. You’re Seth right?” She said looking at Seth, he nodded and then she looked at Dean, “And you’re Dean?” she said. He nodded too and moved over to grab a blueberry from the kitchen island. “Nice to meet you. I’m Galina, Joelle’s mom” She told them smiling.

 ****It seemed to Roman that he should’ve clarified that they were not in a relationship as people might have assumed, but in that moment Jimmy announced that the food was ready and they all made their way to the dining room. Throughout breakfast he kept stealing glances at Seth, and while he looked at Seth he noticed that Seth kept doing the same, except he was looking at Galina. Roman thought it was strange, but then he thought that maybe he did it because he didn’t know her.  
 ****

“So how old are you guys? You seem young. At least younger than me!” Galina said laughing. Everyone else laughed too.

“Well most of us are 18” Randy replied around a mouthful of pancakes. He swallowed his food and continued “John is already 19 and Daniel is seventeen” He pointed to each of his friends as he spoke.

 ****  
****

Galina nodded then she asked “Are you all going to college?”

She kept asking questions and everyone would share their answer while they continued to eat their breakfast. After a few questions she looked at Roman and smiled at him. He knew that smile well, it meant that she was going to say or ask something that could possibly involve him somehow, and he didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.

“So tell me” She started to ask “not that I want to be nosy or anything but, how’s your dating life going?” Roman sighed at her question and shot her an annoyed look. Thankfully most of their friends laughed at the question.

“Well John and I are dating” Nikki said while putting her arm around John. “My sister Brie is with Daniel” She added while pointing at them. “Lana and Dolph finally started going out” She said amused when Lana blushed and Dolph smiled at her. “I think that’s it. Everyone else is single. Well Dean had a girlfriend…”

“She was not my girlfriend” Dean quickly said cutting her off.

“But you were seeing her or whatever” She said. And Dean just snorted.

 

"And then you had to go and break her heart" Brie added. The room felt silent for a bit before Dean spoke again.

 

"Is not like I did it on purpose" He said. "We didn't want the same thing so she lied to me and then tried to make me feel the way she felt. Not my fault she stopped talking to you guys" Dean sounded defensive, but he looked a bit sad. Roman thought that later he would talk to Dean about it.

 

They all fell silent again, everyone going back to their food.

 

“What about you Seth? Any girlfriends?” Galina asked. Roman rolled his eyes at her and hoped no one else had noticed that.

“What about you Seth? Any girlfriends?” Galina asked. Roman rolled his eyes at her and hoped no one else had noticed that.

Seth laughed a little and shook his head “Nope” he replied. Roman looked at him then, Seth did too but quickly looked away when he noticed Roman looking at him. Seth turned to Galina then.

“What about you?” He asked.

“Oh me? Single and ready to mingle” She chuckled and they all laughed.

“So you and Roman…?” Dean started asking and then trailed off.

“Yes we have a daughter, but we’re not together” Roman answered the question Dean seemed to ask.

“We’re just really good friends” Galina added.

As the time passed and they finished their food and headed to the pool Roman noticed how Galina kept talking to Seth and how he seemed to actually talk to her. It honestly made Roman feel a bit left out, he had met Seth first and in all of their one on one conversations Seth had never been as talkative as he was being with Galina. Could he feel jealous over this small thing? He surely didn’t have any right to be, and besides he and Seth had had many conversations via text message. He shook his head and decided to stay in the kitchen to clean up.

Through the kitchen window he could see his friends outside. Some of them were on the pool, most of the girls including Joelle were on the playground. Seth and Galina were sitting on the lounge outside talking.The time for him to leave was approaching and he knew he wouldn’t have a chance to talk to Seth. After he was done with the dishes Galina came into the kitchen.

“He is so nice” She said.

“Yeah I know” Roman replied sighing.

“I thought you said he was shy? He didn’t seem shy to me” She added.

“I don’t know when we text it’s like he’s a different person. When we talk in person he just shuts down on me or something” Roman said.

“Maybe you make him nervous” She said teasingly.

“Are you staying here? ‘Cause I gotta go see my dad” Roman decided to change the subject.

“Yeah change the subject” She said amused. He stared at her and she sighed “I am not staying here. I’ll go get Joelle” She walked out of the kitchen and immediately walked back in. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye?” She asked him. He followed her outside then and after saying goodbye they were on their way out. He was disappointed that he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Seth, but he figured he would text him later in the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was that? Did you like it? Sorry about any mistakes, and also sorry for the lack of Roman/Seth interaction I promise there will be some in the next chapter :)


	10. The thought of you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seth was feeling really confused and stressed out at the moment. It was like when he tried not to think of something, or in this case someone, and all his brain could do was the exact opposite. He was currently helping his mom with dinner; both his dad and Dean were in the living room talking, and Seth tried to pay attention to the potatoes he was cutting, or trying to cut. His mom was talking but he had no idea about what. He just kept nodding at her without even knowing what she was asking. He was so focused on trying to pay attention, on trying to not think about Roman or his dream that he wasn’t even cutting any potatoes anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I am so very sorry that I haven't updated in so long! At first I was just procrastinating so I'm sorry about that lol but now I don't have internet anymore so I had to come to the library so that I could update. Also thank you so much for the comments, especially the ones asking if I was gonna update and stuff! You guys make me want to keep writing :) Anyways I know I promised more Roman/Seth interaction in this chapter but I wanted to show Seth's pov to the last chapter so this is a direct continuation of chapter 8 and it overlaps chapter 9 at the breakfast scene. I hope you guys like it! (Also I feel the need to remind you guys that I try to correct any grammatical or spelling errors so if you see any don't hesitate on telling me!)

_Hands. Big, strong, firm hands caressing his skin. Lips. Soft lips kissing his hipbone. A warm, wet tongue darted out to lick him too. Seth’s whole body was on fire, or so it seemed. He’d never felt so much pleasure before. He was sweating, and it felt difficult to breathe; his heart was beating so fast he felt like it was going to burst out of his chest at any moment. He closed his eyes, a soft moan passing his lips. He felt too much, yet not enough. He outright mewled when he felt a small bite on his left hipbone, the same lips now sucking on it. “That’s gonna leave a mark” he said breathlessly. He heard small chuckle, and then:  “That’s the point” Seth bit his lower lip as those hands squeezed his hips a bit. He opened his eyes to see Roman’s beautiful eyes staring back at him, a small smile on his face. Seth smiled too, and then he heard something, or rather someone, singing. The singing was low as if whoever was singing was far away from him, he wondered what song it was until Roman’s lips startled him. He was sucking on his neck now and his hands were holding Seth so tight that he thought he was going to have them imprinted in him for a long time. Roman’s lips moved down his chest, softly nibbling on his nipple; one of his hands move to stroke his dick slowly, and he couldn’t help but arched his body up, moaning and biting his lip a little bit stronger. Seth noticed how the song was getting a bit louder, like whoever was singing was getting closer. He tried to tell Roman that someone was coming, but he lost his train of thought when Roman’s lips kissed the side of his hard cock. Seth opened his eyes as wide as he could to see Roman looking at him too. Roman was about to keep going when..._

 

Seth sat up on the bed so fast he felt his head spin. He was breathing hard and fast as if he had been running all night. He passed a shaky hand through his hair and tried to control his breathing. He just had a wet dream, a fucking wet dream about Roman. He was so screwed, so freaking screwed. He looked down at his crotch and sighed. It took him a moment to remember where he was. Looking around the room, and noticing how spacious and luxurious it looked, he remembered: Jimmy and Jey’s house. He then heard the same song from his dream; it was Dean, he was singing. Apparently he had woken up in a good mood that was the only time he would sing that early. He groaned and rolled over on the bed looking for his phone, he found it on the nightstand. It was 9:10 am; he groaned again. He hadn't had a good night sleep, he wasn’t sure if he had slept at least an hour, it sure felt like he hadn’t slept at all; last night he couldn’t help but to keep thinking of Dean’s advice, of Roman, of the possibilities of the situation, of Dean saying Roman liked him, of everything. Now he wished he could just go back to sleep, and maybe return to that dream. He shook his head and tried to think of anything but his dream, anything that would make his hard cock soften, the last thing he needed was for Dean to find him like that. He took a couple of deep breaths and thought of a lot of different math problems, math always seemed to be a buzz killer for him.

 

“Good you’re up, it’s already time for breakfast” Dean said, a wide smile on his face. Seth groaned again, burying his face on a pillow.

 

“I’m going back to sleep” Seth announced.

 

“The hell you are” Dean told him getting up on the bed. He started to jump up and down.

 

“Dean I swear if you don’t stop” Seth threatened.

 

“What? What are you gonna do?” Dean challenged while jumping even more.

 

“Stop it. Dean!” Seth said trying to grab Dean’s legs, and failing. “Dammit! I’m awake ok? Would you stop?” He said, annoyed.

 

“Man, you sure are cranky today” Dean said jumping off the bed. Seth said nothing as he got up. He went over to the chair where his backpack sat on, grabbing his toothbrush and a hair tie.

 

“One would think you’d be more happy since you’re gonna see your _boyfriend_ ” Dean added stressing the last word with a smirk on his face. Seth glared at him and threw the hair tie at his face. Dean only laughed and ducked his head. Glaring at him, Seth turned and walked out of the room.

 

Seth walked into the bathroom and immediately went for the toilet. After that he washed his hands and his face. He also kept checking his phone. Roman hadn’t texted him at all after he left the day before, he tried to not let that bother him, but it clearly wasn’t working. He brushed his hair as best as he could and kept it down. He then started to brush his teeth, he was almost done when Dean knocked on the door. Giving him the ok to come in Dean popped his head through the door.

 

“Hey I’m going downstairs I think someone's up already” He told Seth.

 

Seth rinsed his mouth before he responded “OK. How long have you been up anyway?” Dean wasn’t one to wake up early, so Seth found it strange that he was up before him.

 

“I don’t know, eight?” Dean said coming into the bathroom.

 

“Eight? That’s way too early for you” Seth replied side glancing his brother.

 

“I didn’t want to miss breakfast. Your boyfriend sure knows how to cook” Dean said, smirking.

 

“Would you stop calling him that? He's not my boyfriend” Seth said through clenched teeth, glaring at Dean.

 

"Yet" Dean replied while ruffling Seth’s hair and smiling widely at him. Seth swatted his hand away. “See you downstairs” Dean said as he made his way out of the bathroom.

 

Seth sighed and finished brushing his teeth; he tried to brush his hair again to make it seem somewhat better. Noticing how his hair wasn’t cooperating with him he decided to just leave it how it was.

 

He walked down the stairs and yawned, he wanted to just go back to bed but the idea of missing out on seeing Roman again kept him going. He heard voices and laughs coming from the kitchen, rubbing his eyes he entered and said a small ‘good morning’ to everyone in general. After everyone said their respective ‘good mornings’ he heard Roman’s low voice say it. It was like all he needed to fully wake up was to hear Roman’s voice, it kind of surprised him and he looked up to see Roman looking at him, his mind betrayed him by immediately remembering his dream and he blushed furiously. Roman smiled at him then and Seth could practically feel the redness on his cheeks. And then Seth heard a giggle coming from a woman that was standing right next to Roman. A woman who also just casually elbowed Roman’s ribs and made him look at her and smile. A woman who was also beautiful, and seemed to be very familiar with Roman. Seth just knew she had to be Joelle’s mother. He felt something he couldn’t quite describe, but it made him sort of mad. He noticed he was staring at her now, and he looked over at Dean, relieved that his brother was staring at her too.

 

“Good morning. You’re Seth right?” She said looking at him, Seth was a little surprised that she knew his name, and that she seemed really friendly. He couldn’t quite respond so he just nodded. She turned to face Dean and said: “And you’re Dean?” Dean nodded too and moved over to grab a blueberry from the kitchen island. “Nice to meet you. I’m Galina, Joelle’s mom” She told them smiling.

 

 _Of course I was right about her_ , Seth thought. He noticed how she didn’t introduced herself as Roman’s… anything, but that didn’t mean they weren’t something. Jimmy’s voice announcing that they could all start eating brought him out of his musings. They all went to the dining room and sat down to eat. Seth couldn’t help but look at Galina. If she was with Roman then she was so lucky, he didn’t want to admit that the funny feeling he felt every time she looked at her was jealousy. But it was there, and he couldn't help it.

 

“So how old are you guys? You seem young. At least younger than me!” Galina said laughing. Everyone else laughed too. And Seth felt his laugh come out a bit forced. He mentally scolded himself. Galina had done nothing to him, and even if she was with Roman Seth had no right to feel jealous or to be rude to her. He definitely wanted to go back to bed now.

 

“Well most of us are 18” Randy answered around a mouthful of pancakes. He swallowed his food and continued “John is already 19 and Daniel is 17” He pointed to each of his friends as he spoke.

 

Galina nodded then she asked “Are you all going to college?”

 

She kept asking questions and everyone would share their answer while they continued to eat their breakfast. After a few questions she looked at Roman and smiled at him. And Seth gripped his fork a little bit tighter, and chewed his food a little bit rougher, he hoped no one noticed.

 

“So tell me” She started to ask “not that I want to be nosy or anything but, how’s your dating life going?” Seth was definitely interested in that conversation. It was his chance to know if Roman and she were something.

 

“Well John and I are dating” Nikki said while putting her arm around John. “My sister Brie is with Daniel” She added while pointing at them. “Lana and Dolph finally started going out” She said amused when Lana blushed and Dolph smiled at her. “I think that’s it. Everyone else is single. Well Dean had a girlfriend…”

 

“She was not my girlfriend” Dean quickly said cutting her off. Seth rolled his eyes at his brother.

 

“But you were seeing her or whatever” She said. And Dean just snorted.

"And then you had to go and break her heart" Brie added. The room felt silent for a bit before Dean spoke again.

"Is not like I did it on purpose" He said. "We didn't want the same thing so she lied to me and then tried to make me feel the way she felt. Not my fault she stopped talking to you guys" Dean sounded defensive, but also tired. Like this wasn't the first time he had that conversation with the girls.

 

They all fell silent again, everyone going back to their food. Seth shook his head and was taken aback when Galina spoke again.

 

“What about you Seth? Any girlfriends?” she asked.

 

Seth laughed a little and shook his head, he didn’t want to be seen as rude, even though right now she wasn’t his favorite person in the world. _Get it together Seth you and Roman are just friends!_

 

“Nope” he replied. Seth couldn’t help but look at Roman then, when he noticed Roman was looking at him too, he quickly looked away. He hoped his cheeks weren’t red. Seth turned to Galina then and in a moment of boldness asked: “What about you?”

 

“Oh me? Single and ready to mingle” She chuckled and they all laughed. Seth felt so relieved, like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

 

“So you and Roman…?” Dean started asking and then trailed off.

 

“Yes we have a daughter, but we’re not together” Roman answered the question Dean seemed to ask.

 

“We’re just really good friends” Galina added.

 

Seth smiled then, knowing that Roman didn’t have anything with her made him feel a bit better. They all continued to eat and talk, and then his mind started thinking again. What if he’s seeing someone else? Surely a guy like Roman would have countless of women and also men at his feet. Was he the type of guy who dated? Was he like Dean? A guy who didn’t want any commitments? Why weren’t they married? Was it a decision they both took together? Did Galina want something serious and he didn’t? He didn’t seem like that kind of guy though, so what had happen? He had so many questions that he couldn’t just ask. He kept looking at Galina and then an idea came to his mind. Maybe he could ask her, not everything though, he wouldn’t want her to think he was too nosy, but maybe some stuff. He started by making small talk and hoped for the best. Once everyone finished eating they headed out to the pool. Roman said he was going to stay and clean up, Seth wanted to volunteer to help, but he also wanted to keep talking to Galina. If he was going to ask her any questions about Roman he couldn’t waste any time. They sat at the lounge by the pool and kept talking. It wasn’t until Galina said the magical words that Seth felt more confident in asking about her and Roman.

 

“We’ve been talking about me for a while now but I can tell you’ve got a lot of questions you want to ask me about Roman, so shoot” Seth was a bit surprised by this, he blushed a little and looked over to the pool where Dean and Randy were currently playing with a ball. All of the questions he had suddenly came rushing to him, he took a deep breath to calm himself. “Seriously. Ask away” She repeated smiling at him.

 

“How did you two meet?” Seth asked finally. It was a pretty standard question, he thought.

 

“Well it’s a bit of a funny story actually” She replied looking at him and grinning a little. “To spare you the details: We met at a high school party.” _Maybe I want to know the details_ , Seth thought as he nodded.

 

“Did you guys like dated after that or...?” She gave him an odd look, and Seth thought that maybe he was overstepping his boundaries. “Never mind, that’s none of my business” He added quickly. Looking back at the pool he could see Cody and Ted were now in it too, playing with Dean and Randy.

 

“Look I know we just met” Galina started to say “But I am pretty good at reading people...” she paused and laughed a little “...or maybe I’m not, but I know this; from what Roman has told me about you…”

 

“He’s talked to you about me?” Seth asked incredulously.

 

“Yes, but don't tell him I told you that. I mean he's told me about all of you" She said, amused. And then continued: "From what he’s told me I know you’re a nice guy, and Roman, as weird as it sounds, he’s like a brother to me. You know? I mean he’s the father of my child so of course we are close” She paused again and looked straight ahead, Seth followed her vision and saw Brie sitting on one of the swings of the playground, Joelle was sitting on the other one while Nikki pushed her softly.

 

“But we never dated” She finished, Seth looked at her then, his mouth hanging open. A whole new set of questions came to his mind then.

 

“You _never_ dated?” He asked clearly confused. She laughed at his confusion and he looked away. She cleared her throat so that he would turn to look at her again.

 

“Look there are some things that I can’t tell you” She started to say “Because like I said Roman’s like my brother, and it’s not my place to tell you his business. What I can tell you is that we knew we wouldn’t work as a couple, but we both wanted to keep Joelle. We were young and had a lot of plans, a whole life ahead of us, and still we chose to have her, even if we weren’t together. We knew we liked each other as friends so we decided to have a shared custody. And if I could do it all over again, I would’ve done the same thing, and I know he would too. He’s a great man and I wouldn’t want any other man as Joelle’s dad” Her sincerity made Seth admire her in a way, she was being really straightforward and they had just met. Seth really appreciated that. He didn’t really know what to say after that. Both of them were looking at the playground now. Joelle and Nikki were at the slides and Lana was beside Brie on the swings, both girls were being pushed by their boyfriends.

 

Seth smiled softly, he really liked seeing his friends happy, and having a good time. He still had so many questions, but he knew he had to ask Roman and not Galina. He felt bad for wanting to use her to get information on Roman; he also felt like a coward for not asking him directly. She was genuinely nice and seemed to be open to talk about anything, and Seth liked that he could have a new friend in her.

 

“You can ask me anything you want, too” He told her “After all it seems to me that you just told me something very personal.” He usually wasn’t as open as she was, but he could put an effort for her.

 

“Maybe some other time” She said grinning a bit. Seth just nodded at her.

 

A silence followed were they just watched; Seth watched his friends while Galina watched her daughter.

 

“Oh and Seth?” She said while getting up “It was very nice to meet you” She smiled again and Seth smiled at her too.

 

“It was nice meeting you too” He said as he watched her go into the kitchen. He was surprised by pretty much everything she told him. It was like she was an open book, not ashamed or afraid of telling things the way they were. He smiled then thinking that she was a great person, even if he just met her he could tell she was being honest in the things she said.

 

 

A few minutes passed and then Roman came outside with Galina. They were leaving and Seth felt a bit sad that he hadn’t talk to Roman that much, in fact they hadn’t talk at all. After saying good bye he went to sit by the lounge again.

 

Dean came to sit beside him then, and he prepared himself for all the questions his brother would certainly ask. He knew Dean had been watching him and Galina closely. Dean took a towel from one of the couches and set it down besides Seth so that he wouldn’t get the couch wet.

 

“So?” Dean asked with a smile on his face.

 

“So what?” Seth replied.

 

“What did she say? Did you ask her about Roman?” Dean questioned. Seth snorted at that. He knew that was going to be his first question.

 

“What do you mean?” Seth said and he had to bit back a laugh at Dean’s expression.

 

“Did you ask her if he likes you? If he is gay?” Dean said a bit exasperated.

 

“Of course I didn’t ask her” Seth said and looked at Dean feeling a bit offended even though that had been pretty much his intention.

 

“Then what were you two talking about?” Seth knew Dean was not going to stop asking questions until he told him everything she had said. So he did. He told Dean everything she said and after a few seconds Dean smiled widely at him.

 

“Dude I told you he liked you!” He said smiling and throwing a fist pump on the air.

 

“She did not say anything like that. What are you talking about?” Seth said clearly confused.

 

“He talks to her about you. That means he likes you” Dean replied shrugging.

 

“It does not” Seth said. _Does it?_ He thought. "Besides she said they talked about everyone. Not just me" He added.

 

“He also made you breakfast” Dean pointed out. Seth laughed out loud at that.

 

“He made breakfast for everyone!” Seth said shaking his head.

 

“Yeah, but he made blueberry pancakes. Your favorite” Dean shot back.

 

Seth stayed silent for a moment and then said “That was a coincidence. Everyone likes blueberry pancakes”

 

“Not everyone” Dean said, he then got up from the couch and walked inside leaving Seth alone and a bit confused.

 

The rest of the day Seth and his friends decided to play some basketball. It turned out that the twins had their own court; at this point it didn’t really surprised Seth. After playing for a while some of his friends started to leave. Seth and Dean were the last ones there and after taking a shower they both said their goodbyes. All the while Seth tried to not think about Roman, and obviously all he could do was the exact opposite. After accepting that he did like Roman as more than just a friend, Seth couldn’t stop thinking about him. Not only that but on their way home he found himself remembering his dream and he couldn’t help but groan at the memory. _What am I going to do?_ He thought.

“What’s wrong with you?” Dean asked him.

 

“Nothing” Seth replied. He took a look at his brother, currently driving, and knew that he wasn’t buying it.

 

“Right. That’s why you just made that noise” Dean said. “And that’s why you’re making that face”

 

“Just keep driving Dean” Seth said letting out a long breath. He definitely did not want to tell his brother about his dream. Seth turned the volume of the radio up, not wanting to talk anymore and also to focus on something other than Roman.

 

Seth was feeling really confused and stressed out at the moment. It was like when he tried not to think of something, or in this case someone, and all his brain could do was the exact opposite. He was currently helping his mom with dinner; both his dad and Dean were in the living room talking, and Seth tried to pay attention to the potatoes he was cutting, or trying to cut. His mom was talking but he had no idea about what. He just kept nodding at her without even knowing what she was asking. He was so focused on trying to pay attention, on trying to not think about Roman or his dream that he wasn’t even cutting any potatoes anymore.

 

“Seth? Are you ok?” He heard his mom say.

 

“What? Oh yeah, I’m fine” Seth replied. His mom was clearly not convinced.

 

“Are you sure? You are not even paying attention to me” She said with a serious look on her face, a look that made Seth feel like he was 5 years old all over again. He laughed a little at the thought. _Wouldn’t my life be easier if I was 5 again?_ He thought.

 

“Sorry mom. I’m just a little distracted” He told her. It was the truth; as much of the truth as he could tell her anyway.

 

“And why is that?” She insisted. If he didn’t know Dean was adopted he would’ve thought that he got his perseverance from her. Maybe it was something people learned rather than something that was hereditary. Nonetheless Seth had no idea on how to answer the question. He didn’t know how his mom would react if he told her about Roman; not that he thought his mom was homophobic, but it was something they had never talked about. They had talked about so many things, yet talking about whether liking guys and girls, or guys instead of girls, was ok had never occurred to them.

 

“It’s nothing really. Something stupid” He hoped she would stop asking questions now, but it seemed like his mom knew exactly what was wrong with him. Well more like she had a pretty good idea.

 

“Is this about a girl?” She said with a smile and did she sound hopeful? Was she in the same boat as Dean? Trying to get him to date someone? Seth kept his head down, focused on the potatoes he was still trying to cut. He could practically feel the blush on his cheeks. Before Roman, Seth didn’t know a person could blush that much.

 

“No mom, it is Not about a girl” Seth replied. _Maybe I could tell her_ , he thought. _Maybe I could say ‘it’s not about a girl it’s about a guy’._ He didn’t said that of course, he kept his mouth closed and waited for his mom to say something.

 

“If you would rather talk to your father about girls I understand. I get it, you’re not a kid anymore so I understand if talking to me about it it’s weird” His mom laughed a little but her tone told him that she was serious and that she was not buying into his lie. Seth didn’t lie often to his mom, at least not by telling her a lie. He was better at lying by omission. But most of the time she could tell that something was up.

 

“Trust me mom. It is _not_ about a girl” He wanted to laugh right then and there, if Dean was in the kitchen Seth knew he would be on the floor rolling with laughter. His mom gave him a look, and he tried to plead with his eyes for her to not ask anything else.

 

“Ok, if you say so. Just know that you can tell me anything” She turned to the stove and continued cooking. Seth was grateful she didn’t ask anything else, although he was sure this wouldn’t be the last time they talked about it. He wanted to believe that he could tell her anything, but he was scared, and confused and he really wanted to go back to being 5 and not worry about anything.

 

By the time dinner was ready and they were all seating at the kitchen table Seth found himself wondering again and not eating. He wasn’t sure how he managed to finish with the potatoes earlier. He was just sitting there besides Dean, his mom and dad in front of them (his mom directly in front of him), staring at nothing and thinking. Roman still hadn’t texted him and he wondered if he should text him first for once. He didn’t text him of course, but he thought about it.

 

“You’re food is getting cold, Seth. Are you not going to eat?” He heard his mom say. Once again pulling him out of his thoughts.

 

“Yeah, yeah.” He said, mentally kicking himself. If he wanted his mom to not ask him any more questions he had to stop staring at nothing like a freaking zombie. _Get it together Seth!_ He thought.

 

“He’s been like that the whole day” Dean said around a mouthful of chicken. His mom looked at Dean with an amused and annoyed expression at the same time. She did not like Dean’s practically-non-existent table manners, but she didn’t comment on it. Instead she turned to Seth again. And Seth shot Dean a glare that made Dean look like he was little scared, which was immediately replaced with a smirk. Seth kicked him under the table.

 

“Really? Do you know why?” His mother said. Both of them turned to look at her. She was talking to Dean but was still looking at Seth.

 

“Well you see…” Dean started to say, but before he could tell her anything Seth kicked him again.

 

“Ouch. Stop it Seth!” He said raising his voice and kicking Seth back. They kicked each other a bit more before their dad interfered.

 

“Knock it off!” He said. Both Dean and Seth stopped, but kept glaring at each other. Sometimes Seth did feel like he was still just a kid.

 

“Seth, honey. If there’s something wrong you can tell us” She said, concerned. Seth contemplated telling them what he was feeling, but he didn’t even know how to start.

 

“Umm well umm...” He sighed and then continued “There’s someone I like…” He said trailing off and immediately regretting opening his mouth. His mom smiled widely at him and his dad turned to look at him expectantly; even Dean stopped eating to look at him, though his expression was less curious and mostly amused.

 

However, before he could correct himself and say he liked a guy his mom said “Who is she?” He felt like a cold bucket of water had been thrown at him, his eyes widen for a bit and he turned to look at Dean; silently asking for help. Dean was at a loss too, it seemed. He took a deep breath and looked at his parents; both of them wearing wide smiles and hopeful looks and Seth felt his stomach turn into knots. _I can do this. I will do this._ He breathed deep again.

 

“You guys don’t know her. I just met her a couple of weeks ago” _Coward!_ Seth felt Dean kick him again, twice. This time he didn’t kick back, he deserved all the kicks in the world. He remembered the night before last night, when he told Dean the same lie and he didn't believe it. It was a weird sight to see his parents actually believing it. Not that he thought he was a bad liar. Truth was he wasn't sure if he was good either, he had never lie like this before, but his parents seemed to believe him; maybe it was the fact that this was the first time he ever talked about someone other than Nikki and his parents were excited about it? Happy for him? Or something like that.

 

“I knew it was about a girl” His mom said then, he could practically feel Dean’s glare; he refused to look at his brother, and instead focused on his mom. “But what’s the problem? Does she not like you back?” She continued.

 

“I don’t know” Seth said. It was the truth even if he wasn’t talking about any girls.

 

“Have you ask her out?” His dad asked. Seth shook his head, and heard Dean snort.

 

“He’s too scared to make a move” Dean said. Seth couldn’t even be mad at him, after all he was telling the truth. It was like Roman sensed they were talking about him, well at least Seth and Dean were, because in that moment Seth’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He fumbled until he got it out.

 

**_R_ -Hey! So you didn’t even tell me how you liked breakfast?**

 

Seth couldn’t stop the smile that appeared on his face. A smile that quickly banished at his mom’s words.

 

“Is that her?” She said, and she sounded so hopeful it made Seth feel so guilty.

 

“He only smiles like that when it’s her” Dean said, grinning. It was clear that Dean was enjoying making Seth feel bad. His mom’s smile grew even wider. Seth glared at his brother again, he was not making this easy on Seth, and although Seth knew it was his fault for lying he couldn’t help but feel bad about it. He wished he could just disappear. He typed his response before turning to Dean again.

 

**_S-_ It was awesome. Best pancakes ever! :9**

 

“Would you shut up Dean? Please?” He asked. He tried to make it sound like he was angry, but he was actually pleading, scared. He didn’t want Dean to say too much, his lie was already too much. _I should've just kept quiet._

 

“I am just telling the truth” Dean replied raising an eyebrow at Seth “Is that so bad Seth? Telling the truth?” Seth sighed as his phone buzzed again.

 

**_R_ -I’m glad you liked them :) There’s more where those came from.**

 

Seth got up from the table then. They all turned to look at him and he tried not to run to his room.

 

“I am going to bed now” He announced.

 

“Are you not going to eat?” His mom ask again. Seth took his plate then.

 

“I’ll eat in my room” He answered. His parents nodded, clearly thinking he was just leaving so that he could text in private, and although that was true, he was also leaving to avoid any more unnecessary questions and Dean’s accusatory glances.

 

He closed the door to his room and took off his shirt, it was a bit hot in there so he turned on the AC. Once he got comfortable sitting on his bed, with his plate on the nightstand and reclining himself on the headboard, he read Roman’s text again. And he didn’t know how to reply. What did he even mean? That he was going to cook for Seth? Was he just showing off? Seth decided to not assume anything and replied with:

 

**_S-_ What exactly do you mean?**

**_R-_ That I’d be willing to cook for you if you asked. I told you before remember?**

 

Seth felt a fluttering in his stomach as he read Roman’s response. Followed by the ever present questions that he was too scared to ask. Did Roman cook for all of his friends? Was Seth somehow special that Roman would offer to cook for him? Seth did remembered when Roman offered to make him a pizza, did that mean anything more than just wanting to cook for a friend? Or did Roman love cooking so much that he cooked for anyone?

 

**_S-_ Good to know. Maybe I’ll take you up on the offer.**

 

He decided to go for that, not wanting to seem too eager. Although he would absolutely love it if Roman cooked for him every day.

 

**_R-_ Whenever you want. So, you seemed to like Galina. She didn't say anything embarrassing about me did she?**

 

Seth was relieved by the change of topic. He sighed and took a bite off his food before replying.

 

**_S-_ She was really nice. And no she didn't say anything like that.**

 

He smiled at his phone, and then the door to his room was opened. Dean quickly came in and closed the door. He sat at the end of the bed shaking his head.

 

"You're an idiot" He said. Seth sighed and was about to say something when Dean continued talking "Why did you have to lie? What if you two end up together? What if they want to meet her?" He said making air quotations on the word _her_.

 

"We won't end up together" Seth replied firmly. "Now can I eat in peace?"

 

"You're scared aren't you?" Dean said and he sounded less accusatory and more understanding than before. "I know you are, but you don't have to be"

 

"Really? You think they'll be OK with it?" Seth asked. He was scared, unlike Dean, he cared too much about what other people, especially his parents, thought about him. Maybe that was his biggest problem.

 

"Honestly? I don't know, but I do know that you shouldn't lie to them. That's more of my style than yours" Dean said smiling a bit. He then got up and left the room.

 

Seth found himself to be even more confused and feeling guiltier than before. His phone buzzed again then.

 

**_R-_ That's good. Well I gotta go to work now. Good night**

 

**_S-_ Good night**

 

And with that Seth decided that it was better to just go to sleep and not worry about anything for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was it? Did you guys like it? BTW If you noticed I made a slight change on the breakfast scene that I already corrected on chapter 9 just so you guys know. Until the next chapter! (I really don't know when I'm going to be able to upload that one tho sorry)


	11. Sunny Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Not your type?” Seth asked. “What? blonde and gorgeous is not your type?” It was his turn to laugh, although not as much as Roman had.
> 
> Roman seemed to think the question over, he chuckled a little before answering. “Actually, it's women.”
> 
> “What?” Seth asked even more confused.
> 
> “Uh, women. Women are not my type” Roman confessed.
> 
> Seth gawked at Roman. His eyes as wide as they could go, mouth hanging open a bit; he was sure he needed hearing aid because it wasn’t possible that Roman had said that.
> 
> “Sorry, what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been 84 years... OMG guys OMG! I am so very sorry for leaving you hanging like that. I've just been lacking the motivation to write this fanfic, it's so weird 'cause I was so excited to write it in the beginning then IDK what happened. Don't worry tho I plan on actually finish it, but it'll probably be shorter than what I initially thought. Anyways here's a new chapter with some revelations, and rumors and even some cute stuff :D

Seth woke up feeling energized and ready for his morning run. Listening to music and running always made him feel good, sometimes it even relaxed him. The week had gone by in a blur. After having lied to his parents the next couple of days had been very stressful for Seth, making it hard for him to fall asleep. It seemed that the night before was the first time in about a week that he actually slept soundly. All in all his week had been mostly ok, the ever present texts from Roman making his week better, and at the same time worse.

He used the bathroom to get ready to go and walked downstairs to make himself a light breakfast. His parents were already gone for work and there were no signs of Dean downstairs, which meant he was still asleep.He put on his earphones and walked outside. He decided to just run without a destination. He wanted time to think. The truth was his idea of not coming clean to his parents had been haunting him all week, and even if he tried not to think about it, well he could only think about it. And he also thought of what Dean had said, but now that it had been a week he had no idea how to go about telling his parents. He knew that the more he let the time pass the worse it was going to be when he actually told them the truth. He kept running and thinking, and running and thinking. Until he came by a park and slowed down a bit. He started doing laps until he recognized the park; it was the same one where he had run into Roman weeks ago. He kept jogging, unconsciously keeping an eye out in case he ran into him again. Or more like to not run into him again, at least not literally. He had not seen Roman all week and, even though they texted regularly, he kind of missed him. It made him feel weird thinking that he was missing Roman, but that’s how he felt.

After some jogging, and no sign of Roman, he started to slow down until he was walking. And then he saw him. Roman was just getting out of his car; wearing a gray tank top and black basketball shorts, his hair up in a ponytail and looking as good as always. Seth stopped by a nearby tree, catching his breath and taking in the sight. Then a girl got out of the car too. A beautiful girl, who was also wearing a gray tank top, but she was using black yoga pants or were they called leggings? Whatever they were, she was wearing really tight pants. She also had beautiful long blonde hair up in a ponytail, and they were laughing at something looking like they were having a great time together. Seth started making assumptions. He knew he shouldn’t do that, most of the time his assumptions were wrong, but still he couldn’t help it.

He couldn't help thinking that maybe there was something between them; they looked good as a couple, they were even wearing the same clothes. Seth felt that same spark of jealousy in him; the one he felt the first time he met Galina and didn’t know if she and Roman were something. He knew he didn’t have any right to be jealous, that Roman was only his friend. Yet that didn’t stop him from feeling that way.

“Seth?”

 

He heard Roman shout at him. _Shit. He saw me_. Seth thought. There was no way he could run away from this. _Keep it together Seth._ Roman walked the short distance from his car to where Seth was and stood in front of him.

 

“Roman, how’s it going?” He said with a small smile.

 

“Good. It’s been good” Roman answered. “Having your daily run I see?”

 

_He looks so good._ “Yeah…” Seth replied. _Say something else_ , he thought.

 

They stayed like that for a moment, not saying anything, just looking at each other...

 

“Hey so are you gonna introduce me to your friend?” The blonde said standing beside Roman. Seth hadn’t even noticed her coming.

 

“Of course!” Roman said with a wide smile “Seth this is Summer” He gestured to the blonde, Summer apparently. “Summer this is my friend Seth” he gestured to him now, the smile never leaving his face.

 

“Very nice to meet you, Seth,” Summer said, and Seth felt so out of place with them standing side by side and smiling widely. She offered her hand for a handshake and Seth reluctantly took it while also trying to smile as wide and genuine as possible.

 

“Nice to meet you too,” He said at last.

 

“Well, Ro, I’m gonna go stretch over there ok?” She said and went over to stretch by a nearby tree. _She even has a nickname for him._ Seth thought with bitterness.

 

He watched her go and after another moment of silence between him and Roman he couldn’t help but say: “Well I’m gonna leave. I wouldn’t want to keep you from your girlfriend” while trying to sound casual and not angry.

He was taken aback by Roman’s laugh. He was laughing so hard, he was even holding his stomach and his eyes were watering; and it was the most beautiful thing Seth had ever heard or seen in his life.

“What’s so funny?” Seth asked because he was as mesmerized as he was confused.

 

Roman tried to speak between laughing and holding his stomach but was having a hard time. After a while, he stopped laughing and said “Sorry, but that was just too funny”

Seth was still looking at him trying to figure out what was so funny.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Roman said.

“She’s not?” Seth asked. He was relieved about Roman not dating her. He was also intrigued as to why Roman had laughed.

“Let’s just say she’s not my type” Roman replied.

“Not your type?” Seth asked. “What? blonde and gorgeous is not your type?” It was his turn to laugh, although not as much as Roman had.

Roman seemed to think the question over, he chuckled a little before answering. “Actually, it's women.”

“What?” Seth asked even more confused.

“Uh, women. Women  are not my type” Roman confessed.

Seth gawked at Roman. His eyes as wide as they could go, mouth hanging open a bit; he was sure he needed hearing aid because it wasn’t possible that Roman had said that.

“Sorry, what?” Seth asked it seemed like that was the only thing he could say.

 

“Seth,” Roman said pausing until he was looking into Seth’s eyes. He looked very serious in that moment, so Seth tried to regain his composure and nodded slightly, “I’m gay” Roman finished. “I hope that’s not like an issue or anything. I know we haven’t really talked about this sort of stuff and...” he trailed off while scratching the back of his head and looking at the floor. It was the first time Seth had seen him like that. He looked kind of bashful, and it made him feel strange things he couldn’t quite describe. He was sure, though, that Roman looked cute, and it made him look at the floor too.

 

“No, no, no.” Seth said quickly, looking back at Roman who was still looking at the floor. “I’m just surprised. I mean you don’t really look gay” Seth rambled and it got him another chuckle from Roman. “Oh god, that sounded so bad” He muttered.

 

“If I had a dime for every time I heard that,” Roman said looking up, his shyness gone and his smile back in place. And Seth didn’t really know what else to say.

 

“Anyway,” Roman continued “You’re cool with it, right?” Seth nodded. Roman smiled even more and offered his fist for Seth to bump it. Seth couldn’t help but laugh a little while bumping fists with Roman. “So I should get back to my friend. Text you later?” Roman said, stressing out the word friend.

  
“Sure” Was all Seth said, he waved Roman goodbye as the other man made his way towards Summer. 

 

On the way back to his house Seth found himself thinking about Roman’s confession. He allowed himself to hope that maybe he did have a chance with Roman, that maybe they could have something. It was kind of weird to think that way. It had just been a week since he allowed himself to think of Roman like that; to actually admit that he liked the other man as more than just a friend. To know that there was a small chance of something actually happening made Seth feel hopeful and also a bit nervous, and afraid. He had never been in an actual relationship, and he didn’t even know if he had any chance with Roman. Nonetheless, he allowed himself to be happy at the thought of it, his mood had improved a lot with that confession, that was for sure.

Once inside his house, he went straight to Dean’s room. His brother was still asleep and Seth woke him up by turning on the radio as loud as he could. The first chords to Caraphernelia resonating through the room only made Dean stir slightly and put a pillow over his head. Seth sighed and opted for Plan B, which was to wake Dean up the same way Dean often used on him: by jumping on the bed. He was starting to get a bit tired of jumping when Dean finally opened his eyes to glare at him. Seth just smirked.

 

“Time to get up,” He said simply and Dean hit him with a pillow.

“Why the fuck are you waking me up so early?” Dean said while rolling around his bed and putting another pillow over his head.

“It’s almost 11 am Dean.” Seth replied while getting off the bed, “You are so cranky in the mornings dude”

“Well if you just let me sleep I wouldn’t be so cranky” Dean replied, but he was already sitting up on the bed. “What happened?” He asked after he took a good look at Seth.

“What do you mean?” Seth responded. 

“You’re in a good mood.” His brother replied.

“So? Can’t I be in a good mood?” Seth asked.

“Well, yeah. But you have been sulking around all week so this is a weird sight” Dean said while gesturing all of Seth.

“I have not…” Seth started to say but cut himself short at the look Dean was giving him “Alright I have been. Not anymore, though, I decided that I’m gonna look at the bright side of things” he finished saying while Dean gave him a skeptical look.

“If you say so.” Dean said while getting up and going through his closet. 

“Well, something did kind of happen” Seth said smiling as he remembed running into Roman a few minutes ago.

“Yeah what’s that?” Dean asked, not bothering to look back as he was still rummaging through his clothes.

So Seth told him about his encounter with Roman and his friend Summer.

“Summer? She works at the club too doesn’t she?” Dean said.

“I don’t know” Seth replied. “That’s not the point, though. The point is that Roman’s gay” He said.

“Yeah well I already knew that,” Dean told Seth while putting his clothes on the bed.

“What do you mean you knew? And you didn’t tell me?” Seth asked indignantly while staring at his brother.

“I tried to tell you, but you never listened to me,” Dean said, shrugging.

“No, no, no. You just assumed that he was, or that he could be. But you never asked him did you? You never confirmed it.” Seth said accusingly.

“Well I was right wasn’t I?” Dean shrugged again.

“That is not how things work Dean!” Seth said exasperatedly.

“Jeez, calm down would ya? I heard things about him around the club, you know rumors. But I never asked him or anything. I guess the rumors were true, though.” Dean said while making his way out of his room. Seth followed him. Dean opened the door to the bathroom and put his clothes on the towel rack while standing at the door.

“What rumors? What are you talking about?” Seth asked. He wasn’t going to let things go that easily.

“Let me take a shower ok? We’ll talk after” Dean told him and shut the bathroom door.

Seth paced back and forth in front of the bathroom door for about 10 minutes. He didn’t have anything better to do, and he needed Dean to get out so that he could take a shower himself. He decided to take his shirt off because the sweat was making it stick to him. After another 5 minutes, he gave up and went downstairs to make something to eat. He was still in a good mood but was now really intrigued as to what rumors Dean was talking about. He didn’t go to the club as much as Dean, and even though Dean didn’t go that much he did know more about what was going on there. Seth decided to reheat yesterday's dinner instead of making anything. He was eating while reclining against the kitchen counter when he heard the door of the bathroom being open; it made a distinctive sound that told everyone the hinges needed some oil, but no one really thought of doing anything about it. He all but ran up the stairs and into Dean’s room, his food forgotten on the counter, ready to ask his brothers all kinds of questions.

 

“Before you say anything let me just say that all I’ve heard was that he was gay” Dean told him before Seth could utter a word. “That’s it. That’s the rumor” He shrugged while putting on deodorant. Seth just stood there not really believing that that was it.

“Seriously? That’s it?” Seth asked. 

“Seriously,” Dean said while putting on his shirt and sitting on the bed.

Seth sat on his brother's bed too while thinking things through. For some reason he thought there was something else there.

“I don’t believe you,” He told his brother.

“Fine. Let’s just say that I heard some girls talking about him. I was at the club one day, and this was before graduation by the way…” Dean was saying until Seth cut him off.

“What do you mean before graduation? Wasn’t the first time you met Roman the night of the graduation party?” Seth asked.

“Well yeah, but I had been to the club before, and I had seen him before. We just hadn’t talk or anything” Dean told him while putting on some jeans and throwing his towel on the floor, he was aiming for the basket with dirty clothes but missed terribly. Seth nodded for Dean to continue then, “So I was there and he was up next, when he came out I overheard these girls; first, they were talking about how hot he was and stuff, but then one of them goes ‘did you hear about him though?’ and that sort of piqued my interest so I tried to focus more and she said that people always talked about how he was gay, but that no one knew if it was true because they had never seen him with anyone. And by anyone I mean no guys or girls. So no one really knows what’s going on. Some people think that he either doesn’t do relationships or that he’s really private about that stuff. Other’s think that maybe he’s just single and not looking for anything” Dean got up from the bed and went to his closet to get some shoes out. Meanwhile, Seth sat there taking everything in. Dean sat down on the bed again and started to put his socks on.

“There’s more, though, right?” Seth asked. Dean seemed to be thinking, his eyes were narrowed and once he finished with his shoes he looked at Seth; Seth had that look of curiosity on his face, but Dean was just staring at him without saying anything, “Well?” Seth said then, making a movement with his hands as if to say ‘keep going’ Dean sighed and got up and walked out of his room. Seth followed him to the kitchen and reclined himself on the counter once again, all the while he kept his eyes on Dean.

“Ok, ok. Stop looking at me like that” Dean said while he got some bread out and started to make some toast, “I’ll tell you, just don’t go around telling everyone I told you this ok? Besides it’s just a rumor” Dean said, Seth nodded and decided to take a seat, his food was getting a bit cold but he started to eat again anyway.

“Well, I also heard that the reason why no one ever sees him with anyone is because he is in a long distance relationship with some guy” Seth gaped at his brother’s words. Roman had never mentioned anything about being in a relationship, but then again he never mentioned being gay so Seth wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. “Some other people say that he has this on and off thing with some guy. I don’t know like I said they’re just rumors” Dean finished saying while sitting down.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Seth asked, he was mad at his brother for keeping something like this from him, and made sure Dean noticed it.

“Because I didn’t think it was important?” Dean responded. Seth sighed and was about to continue questioning his brother when there was a knock on their front door. “Saved by the bell,” Dean said, smirking as he got up to open the door. Seth just kept glaring at his brother. He felt his mood changing at the thought of Roman being in a relationship. He’d thought about it before, but this made it more real somehow. If the rumors of Roman being gay were true, then maybe these rumors were also true. 

“Yo, what’s up Dean?” Came Jimmy’s excited voice, Seth’s heart started to beat faster, usually, whenever he saw Jimmy and Jey, Roman was with them. He waited as he heard Dean say hi and tell the visitors to get in the house. Seth heard Jey and Naomi, but not Roman. He got up from the kitchen table and made his way to the living room

“We brought pizza” Naomi was saying as Dean led them into the house.

“Hey guys,” Seth said with a smile, they said hi and sat down in the living room. Dean went into the kitchen and got some plates for the pizza, and some sodas for everyone.

“So what brings you guys here?” Dean asked as he handed the plates, and sat down on one of the couches.

“Well me personally, I just wanted to beat your ass in Mortal Kombat!” Said Jimmy while he got the game seemingly out of nowhere and shook it in front of Dean’s face

“In your dreams Jimmy,” Dean said while he got up and looked for the remote to turn the tv and the game console on.

“The real reason we came here, though” Naomi started saying, “Is because these two have an invitation to make”

“So this next Thursday is our birthday,” Jey told them “And we’re gonna have a big party on Saturday, but we’re gonna have it at our beach house, we were wondering if you guys wanted to come? Not just to the party, though, the night before the party we’re gonna have a movie night, and it’s usually just us and my girl, Roman, and Galina.” Seth heard everything Jey had said, but his mind was still focused on the phrase ‘our beach house’ he had been hanging out with these guys for just over a month, and every day they surprised him even more. Just how rich are they? He thought while Jey continued “But this year we thought why not invite them? You know, you guys and your other friends, make it a bit bigger this year, what do you guys say?”

“Honestly, you had me at beach house,” Dean said while he finally got the game on and handed Jimmy a controller, they all laughed at that. Seth shook his head at his brother but laughed nonetheless.

“Sounds fun,” Seth said “Is it like a formal party or...”  he asked.

“Casual man, casual” Jey answered.

“I’m in then” Seth told him.

They ate pizza and played video games for a while after that. It had been at least 2 hours when the twins and Naomi said that they had to go visit other houses, they even asked for some addresses of their friends so that they could invite them as well. Once they left Seth started cleaning up the living room while Dean kept playing video games.

“Are you not going to help me?” Seth asked, his hands folded over his chest and one of his eyebrows raised. He was mad at Dean for not telling him about those rumors, and he wasn’t going to let that go so easily. Dean sighed but didn’t say anything as he paused his game. “You know I’m mad at you right?” Seth said while grabbing the pizza box.

“About what? some stupid rumors that I didn’t tell you about? Come on Seth don’t be ridiculous” Dean said, he shook his head and started to pick up the plates from the coffee table.

“I understand why you didn't tell me before, but after you found out I liked him? Why didn’t you say anything?” Seth was getting a bit frustrated at Dean not taking things seriously.

“Because you wouldn’t even hear me out? You didn’t even want to admit you liked him. If I told you before you wouldn’t have told me you liked him, would you?” Dean’s question took him aback a little. Because while he was right on that, he still should’ve said something, at least, that was what Seth thought, he just stared at his brother then, not knowing what to say. 

“You don’t know that,” He said defensively.

“Seth just don’t make this into a big deal, you make everything into a big deal,” Dean said and left for the kitchen. Seth followed him and threw the pizza box in the trash while Dean placed the plates on the sink.

“But it kind of is a big deal,” Seth argued, “what if it’s true? then I can’t have anything to do with Roman” Not that I am doing anything about it, he thought.

“You won’t even make a move,” Dean told him. “Let’s say it’s true. At least the part about him having an on and off thing with some guy.” Seth nodded and sat down, Dean did the same and continued “Then you need to make a move soon if you really wanna be with him. You need to do something before this guy, or any other guy for that matter comes along and does that before you”

“What if he doesn’t like me?” Seth said he didn’t wanna sound so scared, but the reality was that he was panicking about it.

“Then you’ll have to get over him,” Dean said as if it was the easiest thing in the world, “I know, I know. It won’t be easy, but you will. If you ask me, though, I think he does like you” Dean shrugged and left the kitchen. Seth hoped he could be as confident about it as Dean was.

Friday was finally here and Seth was really excited to go to the beach. It had been a bit of a hassle to convince his mom to give them permission to go. Dean had told him not to ask for permission that he should simply tell their mom that they were going to go. Seth still felt like he had to ask her, though. Sure they were already 18 but they were still living with their parents and had yet to find a job, so not asking for permission felt wrong to him. In the end, she agreed to let them go so long as they called her to let her know they were ok at least once a day. His dad, on the other hand, had the same mindset as Dean; he told them that they didn’t need to ask for permission, that they should just call or text them that they were ok and that was good enough for him. So early on Friday Seth packed his backpack and to his surprise when he went to Dean’s room to wake him up, his brother was already awake and packing too. They had some bacon and eggs for breakfast and then Seth sent his mom a text telling her that they were on their way to the beach. 

On the road to the twins’ beach house Dean decided to sleep it off on the passenger seat, Seth laughed out loud at his brother, of course, he was going to take advantage of Seth driving and sneak in a nap. Seth was thankful that Dean was a heavy sleeper, though, that way he could still listen and sing along to his iPod without fear of Dean waking up. Jimmy had texted Dean the exact address of their house the day before; the beach was a town away and it took them approximately an hour to get there, but Seth was taking his time going a little under the speed limit. He loved driving to the beach and taking his time while doing it, it calmed him down, it was sort of like running but to a lesser extent. Still he enjoyed it, especially the part when he got close to the beach and he could hear the waves crashing, feel the breeze on his face, and even smell the saltiness of it. Getting to the twins’ house was easier than Seth had thought it would be. The house was inside a gated community and Seth had to give his name to a security guard to be let in. It had been a little surreal, even more so after entering and seeing all the houses around, they were huge and the more he got into the place the bigger the houses seemed. After a couple of twists and turns he found the house, he did a double check on the address and house number so that he wouldn’t accidentally park in another house (with his luck lately he wouldn’t put it past life to throw something like that at him) and then proceeded to park next to a beautiful black Camaro. He turned the engine off and started to shake Dean to try and wake him up, it took him a bit but he finally woke up and they got out of the car.

“We’re finally here!” Dean said enthusiastically.

They closed the car doors and Seth opened the trunk to get their stuff out. They stood in front of the huge double doors of the house and rang the doorbell; it didn’t take too long for Naomi to come and open the door for them.

“Hello, guys! Come on in” She greeted and gave each of them a kiss on the cheek.

“Hi Nae,” They both said at the same time causing her to giggle a little.

They followed Naomi into the house and upon entering Seth tried to take in everything at once; like the big staircase situated a few feet away, straight in front of the door, it went up a couple of steps and then it was divided in two; there was a big chandelier hanging up in the middle of the ceiling; on the left wall there were some paintings, a sofa, and at the end there was a door; on the right wall there was a picture of the twins with other people (that Seth could only assume was the rest of their family) hanged up and a table with some flowers in the middle, the rest of that wall consisted of 2 big paintings and at the end just below the staircase there was a set of double doors. 

“You can leave your bags there in the living room for now and come join us outside,” She said as she started walking towards the double doors. Inside was a big living room; it consisted of an all-white set of sofas and a dark brown coffee table, it had a big flat screen tv right above the chimney, a bar, and even a grand piano. One of the walls of the room was made entirely out of glass, and you could see the ocean through it, it had a glass door that was open and Dean didn’t hesitate in dropping his bag and sprinting outside, Naomi and Seth laughed at him as they followed him out.

Right outside the house was a deck with several beach chairs and a table with an umbrella, and then there was the sand and a couple of feet away was the ocean. Seth breathed in and out as he took off his shoes, his feet were practically itching to feel the warm sand. He could see that Dean had reached one Jimmy who was standing near the water; inside of the water he could see people though he couldn’t see who they were; and then to the far left he could see Roman. Apparently he and Jimmy were passing a football at each other. Seth followed Naomi who came to a stop with Dean and Jimmy and said hi. Roman made his way over to them; he was shirtless and his hair was down and the way it flowed in the ocean breeze had Seth in some sort of trance. He felt a sensation in his stomach; something he felt every time he saw Roman, something he could only describe as butterflies, as much as the term made him roll his eyes.  Roman always looked good, but right there under the summer sun, with the ocean by his side Seth could swear he looked heavenly, or godly whatever that meant. He stopped staring when Dean asked in a whisper if he needed help picking his jaw off the floor. Shooting his brother a glare, who only smiled at him in return, Seth tried to look anywhere but at Roman. 

“You made it,” Roman said as he came closer.

“You betcha’,” Dean said, grinning. Seth just nodded and smiled at him, still kind of in awe at the man. Don’t do or say anything stupid, he thought. He was nervous as fuck, a feeling that seemed to appear every time Roman was near.

“So what do you think?” Jimmy asked smiling and opening his arms wide.

“The place looks amazing” Dean answered, “Right Seth?” Seth nodded as an answer making Dean smirk “I think he’s still admiring the view. You know it’s a great view” Dean added with a knowing look and Seth narrowed his eyes at him.

“It is a great view” Roman agreed looking at the sea. Dean started laughing and they all looked at him, not understanding. Seth was grateful that they didn’t catch on to what Dean was hinting at.

“Daddy! Daddy! Let’s go in the water!” They all turned around to see Jojo yelling as she came out of the house, followed by Galina. Roman’s smile seemed to brighten at the sight of his daughter and Seth’s stomach began to flutter with those so-called butterflies again. Roman dropped to his knees and opened his arms as Jojo ran to him, and now, not only did Roman look all god-like but now he also looked cute, something that made Seth want to kiss him until he took all of his breath away. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Roman finally told Seth about being gay! Also, what did you think about those rumors?? Thanks for reading and I hope I won't take too long to update again! If there are any mistakes don't hesitate in pointing them out! I will try and correct them asap :)

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped you enjoyed this. Please tell me what you think, and what you liked or didn't like and why. If I should continue or not. Really any comment is welcomed lol. Also if you wanna follow me on Tumblr you can find me at Ageofambreigns.tumblr.com Thanks for reading :D


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